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NORTH   TAPOI  INA    TTATr    UNIVrR'.ITV    (  IRRAt'l 

iri'!  "" 


S00533487    U 


This  BOOK  may  be  kept  out  TWO  WEEKS 

ONLY,  and  is  subject  to  a  fine  of  liS^ 
CENTS  a  day  thereafter.  It  is  due  on  the 
day  indicated  below:  '  \    V      Oi  ^ 


14Jul'36 


M  '  3  t98' 


LI 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NKW  YORK    •    BOSTON    •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


*      ■>*'■■ 


Inviting  an.i  ».umii,i;  aKain.^L  iiiUusioii  at  uiie  and  the 
same  time  the  arched  gateway  finds  its  proper  place 
wherever  there  is  a  (k'finite  change  in  garden  motif — and 
cannot  he  consistently  introduced  elsewhere  in  a  design 


Come  Into  the  Garden 


BY 
GRACE   TABOR 


AUTHOR  OF 


"OLD  FASHIONED  GARDENS,     "THB  GARDEN  PRIMER, 
'WONDERDAYS  AND  W0NDERWAY8  THROUGH  rLOWERLAND," 
"THB  LANDSCAPE  GARDENING  BOOK,"  ETC. 


Illustrated 
With  Photographs 


Nfut  Qork 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1921 

All  righta  reaerved 


COPTRIQHT,    1921, 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  May,  1921 


Printed  in  tlie  United  States  of  America 


FOREWORD 

It  is  appropriate  to  explain  that  in  a  book  of 
this  character  there  may  be  an  appearance  of 
inconsistency  to  the  layman  in  the  spelling  of 
plant  names.  The  nomenclature  of  Bailey's 
Encyclopoedia  of  Horticulture  has  been  followed, 
however,  with  the  exception  of  the  capitaliza- 
tion of  the  names  when  they  appear  apart  from 
their  botanical  components.  Personally,  the 
author  believes  a  page  presents  a  more  agree- 
able appearance  to  the  eye  when  the  names  of 
such  plants  as  may  be  referred  to  thereon  are 
not  treated  as  proper  names;  and  that  it  may 
be  read  with  greater  facility  and  a  less  disturbed 
sense  of  values  as  a  consequence.  For  those 
desiring  to  pursue  further  reading  or  study  along 
the  lines  of  any  particular  chapter,  a  bibliog- 
raphy of  standard  works  dealing  with  each  chap- 
ter subject  will  be  found  at  the  back  of  the  book, 
just  before  the  Index. 


40990 


CONTENTS 


Part  I 
CONCERNED  WITH  MAN'S  CONTRIBUTION 


Foreword 

I.  The  Garden's  Place  in  Civilization 

II.  Position  and  Plan  of  the  House    . 

III.  Designing  a  Garden 

IV.  Grades,  Levels  and  Contours     .     . 

V.  Boundaries  and  Boundary  Treatment 

VI.  Walks,  Paths  and  Garden  Entrances 

VII.  Garden  Accessories  and  Ornaments  . 
VHI.  The  Place  That  Is  Already  Started  . 
IX.  Planting  and  Maintenance      .     .    .    . 


PAOS 

ix 

3 

10 

27 

45 

60 

76 

89 

101 

118 


Part   II 
CONCERNED  WITH  NATURE'S  CONTRIBUTION 

X.  Trees  and  Their  Purpose 145 

XI.  The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Evergreens     .     .     .     .  156 

XII.  Shrubbery  and  Shrubs 164 

XIII.  Flowers  of  All  Climes  and  Seasons  .     ...  181 

XIV.  Vines,  Decorative  and  Useful 201 

XV.  Roses  and  Their  Special  Culture 212 

XVI.  Wat^  Features  and  Water  Flowers      .     .     .  232 

XVII.  Rock  Gardens  and  Their  Plants ^  253 

XVIII.  Wild  Gardens  and  Wild  Flowers 2B7 

XIX.  Fruits  for  the  Small  Garden 282 

XX.  The  Vegetable  Garden 295 

Bibliography 313 

Index 317 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Arched  Gateway 

An  Arbored  Alcove 

A  Boundary  Wall  of  Simple  Design      . 

Informal  Garden 

Climbing  Roses  on  House 

The  Tree — a  Decorative  Garden  Feature 
Arborvit^   Enclosing   a   Water-flower 

Garden     

Dwarf    Apple    Tree    as    a    Shrubbery 

Ornament      

Mixed  Border  with  a  Wall  Background 
Grape   Vine   and   Arbor   Employed   for 

Decorative  Purposes 

Climbing  Roses  Over  Archway  .    .    •    . 

Pool  in  Garden 

A  Rock  Garden      

Garden  Flowers  Planted  in  Naturalistic 

Fashion 

Fruit  Tree  Trained  Against  Wall  .  . 
Decorative  Value  of  Cabbage   .    .    .    . 


Frontispiece 

Facing  p.   32 

60 

92 

116 

150 

158 

170 
186 

210 

222 
232 
256 

272 
286 
296 


Come  Into  the  Garden 


PART  I 

CoNCERNia)   WITH   Man's   CONTRIBUTION 
1—2 


COME   INTO  THE  GARDEN 


"There  is  no  ancient  gentlemen  but  gardeners." 

— Hamlet, 

CHAPTER  I 

The  Garden's  Place  in  Civilization 

RECOGNIZING  the  natural — and  proper — ten- 
dency of  those  who  practice  any  art  to  re- 
gard that  art  as  peculiarly  important,  and  as  a 
consequence  to  exalt  its  service  to  the  human 
race  until  it  alone  seems  responsible  for  human 
progress,  I  am  nevertheless  obliged  to  assert 
that  here  is  the  one  art  without  which  the  afore- 
said race  could  never  have  emerged  at  all  from 
primitive  conditions!  Moreover,  it  is  also  true 
that  without  it — I  am  speaking  to  the  broadest 
concept  of  it — mankind  would  speedily  lose 
everything  held  dear,  and  would  slip  back  into 
a  condition  very  much  more  difficult  and  more 
dangerous  to  survival,  as  well  as  very  much  less 
worthy,  than  that  occupied  prior  to  the  more  or 
less  well-known  dawn  of  civilization. 

3 


Library 
N.  C.   State   College 


4  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

For  what,  after  all,  was  that  dawn?  Where 
did  it  break?  And  what  were  the  first  faint 
streaks  in  the  sky?  That  man's  first  differ- 
entiation from  the  animal  came  with  the 
fashioning  of  tools  is  sufficiently  apparent  not 
to  be  open  to  argument,  of  course;  but  neither 
this  nor  his  subsequent  rude  architecture,  nor 
even  the  discovery  and  use  of  fire  can  be 
said  to  have  carried  him  very  far  forward  on 
the  long  road  he  has  traveled,  since  savages 
to-day  employ  as  much.  No,  it  was  none  of 
these. 

It  was  with  the  first  deliberate  planting  of  a 
seed  and  cultivation  of  a  plant  that  the  darkness 
of  the  racial  night  began  really  to  lift.  And  it  is 
to  the  degree  of  his  loyalty  to  this  first  great 
science-art  that  man  is  a  success  or  failure  in  the 
world  to-day! 

Perhaps  this  seems  the  usual  exaggeration  of 
the  devotee;  but  need  I  do  more  than  point  out 
the  complete  dependence  of  all  creation  upon  a 
rehable  and  regular  food  supply,  to  prove  my 
case?  We  have  had  too  recent  example  of  world 
food  shortage  to  forget  altogether  how  real  a 
menace  to  every  human  being  individually  such 
shortage  may  become  within  an  alarmingly 
short  space  of  time,  once  production  is  aban- 
doned.   Wherefore  we  have  writ  large  before  us 


PLACE  IN  CIVILIZATION  5 

so  that  he  who  runs  may  read,  the  great  and 
universal  obHgation  of  stewardship,  wherein 
each  one  of  us  shares,  to  promote  and  foster  this 
art  in  all  its  branches. 

The  strongest  of  all  instincts  presumably  is 
the  instinct  of  self-preservation — which  is  the 
reason  that  the  instinct  to  grow  things  lies  so 
deep  in  the  human  heart;  for  the  latter  is  actu- 
ally merely  an  extension  of  the  former.  Some 
will  say  that  they  lack  it  altogether,  I  know; 
and  I  grant  at  once  that  they  seem  to.  But  of 
these — and  to  them — let  me  add  that  it  has 
never  been  my  experience  to  find  anyone  lack- 
ing it  wholly,  once  they  are  given  a  chance  to 
know  what  a  garden  really  can  be,  and  can  do 
for  them  and  to  them  as  well  as  to  the  world  in 
which  they  live  and  have  their  being.  It  is  the 
pressure  of  other  things  that  makes  them  im- 
patient of  Nature's  slow  processes,  or  total  un- 
f  amiliarity  with  the  work,  or  misconception  gen- 
erally that  accounts  for  indifference.  Interest 
never  resists  the  appeal  of  the  miracles  of  every- 
day in  the  garden,  when  this  has  an  opportunity 
to  assert  itself. 

The  stewardship  of  which  I  have  spoken  de- 
mands that  it  be  given  this  opportunity;  and 
the  active  exercise  of  stewardship  begins  with 
the  establishment  of  every  home,  whether  it  is 


6  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

large  or  small.  This  is  the  truth  that  we  ought 
everyone  to  realize  and  be  governed  by. 

Yet  it  is  not  enough  that  we  act  upon  an  in- 
stinct of  self-preservation  alone,  since  this  would 
induce  each  household  to  be  merely  food  pro- 
ducers— which  is  neither  practicable  nor  desir- 
able at  this  late  day.  The  analogy  holds,  here 
as  elsewhere,  between  gardening  and  architec- 
ture; since  we  go  a  great  deal  farther  now  than 
to  provide  ourselves  just  with  shelter — the  bare 
necessity — in  our  exercise  of  the  art  of  building, 
so  we  have  arrived  at  a  time  when  the  finer  as- 
pects of  the  art  of  gardening  must  prevail.  Our 
one  great  difficulty  in  this  connection,  however, 
is  our  tendency  to  disregard  the  early,  real  pur- 
pose of  it  and  to  devote  ourselves  to  the  finer 
aspects  altogether;  which  is  as  if  we  built  our 
houses  without  roofs  because  roofs  are  less  in- 
teresting and  decorative  and  generally  appeal- 
ing than  side  walls  and  doors  and  fenestration. 

The  suggestion  made  by  Bacon  in  his  essay 
on  gardens  has  been  quoted  so  often  and  univer- 
sally that  I  long  since  foreswore  its  literal  tran- 
scription, yet  it  sums  up  so  much  of  all  that 
there  is  to  say  introductory  to  the  subject  that 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  do  without  it!  He  was 
so  wholly  right,  and  it  is  so  true  that,  of  the 
twin  arts  of  building  and  gardening,  the  latter 


PLACE  IN  CIVILIZATION  7 

represents — and  requires — the  greater  perfec- 
tion. But  we  have  been  building  stately  for  long 
enough  now  to  begin  to  garden  finely;  and  we 
are  moreover  as  a  nation  coming  to  that  self- 
consciousness  which  inspires  real  effort  in  the 
arts,  in  the  desire  to  express  itself.  Hence  we 
are  ready  to  produce  something  worthy  in  gar- 
dens— and  when  I  say  worthy  I  mean  just  that, 
in  every  sense  and  all  senses  of  the  word.  We 
are  ready  not  only  to  assume  the  obligations  of 
our  stewardship  of  such  land  as  we  acquire,  but 
we  are  ready  to  spare  no  pains  to  embellish  and 
make  beautiful  as  well  as  to  make  productive. 
We  are  ready  at  last  to  justify  possession  of  our 
bit  of  earth,  inasmuch  as  we  are  ready  to  make 
the  most  of  it  in  the  fullest  sense. 

Distinct  from  its  aspect  as  a  civilizing  factor, 
therefore,  is  the  garden's  aspect  as  an  evidence 
of  the  progress  of  civilization.  It  established  it 
in  the  first  place;  and  now  it  is  the  measure  by 
which  it  may  be  gauged.  Crude  people  garden 
crudely — this  is  as  true  of  individuals  as  it  is  of 
races — while  people  of  high  culture  and  highly 
evolved  discrimination  and  sense  of  harmony, 
garden  finely.  By  their  gardens  indeed  shall 
we  know  them;  for  a  garden  is  surely  the  fruit 
of  its  creator's  mind  and  will  reveal  the  inner 
man  as  nothing  else  he  can  make.    Which  is  an- 


8  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

other  striking  thing  about  them — they  will  not 
deceive  nor  give  out  a  false  impression.  Hence 
if  it  is  desired  to  produce  a  certain  impression 
through  the  home  and  its  gardens,  it  is  neces- 
sary to  start  in  the  very  heart  of  things  and  be- 
come what  that  impression  signifies.  In  no 
other  way  will  it  be  possible  to  convince;  we 
must  be,  in  other  words,  what  we  want  our  gar- 
den to  make  us  seem. 

Happily  this  works  both  ways;  for  the  garden 
itself  is  the  best  means  of  becoming  genuine — 
of  getting  right  oneself.  Just  why  this  is  so  does 
not  always  appear  on  the  surface  of  things — but 
I  suspect  it  is  because  everything  dealt  with  in 
the  garden  is  so  genuine,  and  because  it  is  in  it- 
self such  an  elemental  occupation.  There  is  vir- 
tue in  earth  contact  and  there  is  inspiration  in 
the  observation  of  plant  unfoldment,  whether 
we  are  mystical,  empirical,  or  rationalistic  in  our 
temperament — whether  we  believe  it  or  not,  in 
short.  And  what  is  more,  it  works,  whether  we 
believe  it  or  not.  So  we  have  only  to  give  it  the 
chance;  the  rest  will  come. 

In  its  application  to  the  individual  and  the  in- 
dividual garden  all  that  I  have  just  said  re- 
solves itself  into  one  sound  maxim  for  a  starting 
point,  namely : — the  garden  is  at  once  the  oppor- 
tunity and  the  achievement,  the  cause  and  the 


PLACE  m  CIVILIZATION  0 

result.  If  this  is  understood  nothing  more  need 
be  said  in  urgence  of  its  claims;  the  rest  will 
come  along  in  due  season  and  order — helped  per- 
haps a  little  bit  by  the  further  content  of  this 
volume.  At  least  I  hope  so! 


"A  garden  ought  to  lie  to  the  best  parts  of  the  house,  or 
to  those  of  the  master's  commonest  use,  so  as  to  be  but 
like  one  of  the  rooms  out  of  which  you  step  into  another." 
OJ  Gardening. — Sir  Wm.  Temple. 


CHAPTER  II 

Position  and  Plan  of  the  House 

THERE  are  three  points  under  which  the  loca- 
tion and  the  layout  of  a  dwelling  should  be 
considered.  These  are  its  exposure  for  summer 
and  winter  comfort;  its  place  on  the  ground 
with  regard  to  the  greatest  economy  and  con- 
servation of  the  same;  and  the  distribution  of 
the  space  thus  saved  and  conserved  for  the 
greatest  degree  of  efficiency  and  beauty.  All 
these  three  are  almost,  if  not  quite,  equally 
important.  If  there  is  any  difference  between 
them,  it  is  indicated  by  the  order  in  which 
they  are  named — but  do  not  let  this  minimize 
the  importance  of  the  last  nor  magnify  the  im- 
portance of  the  first.  To  each  should  be  given 
such  a  measure  of  consideration  and  careful 
thought  that  when  a  plan  is  finally  adopted  and 

10 


POSITION  AND  PLAN  11 

the  work  begun,  it  may  be  with  the  certainty 
that  the  very  best  is  about  to  be  accomplished 
under  all  three  heads. 

Every  plot  of  ground,  however  great  or  small 
it  may  be — excepting  the  city  lot  which,  leaving 
no  room  whatsoever  for  choice,  is  of  course  not 
now  under  consideration — affords  just  one 
"best"  place  for  the  house  which  is  to  take 
shape  upon  it.  And  the  location  of  this  any- 
where but  in  or  upon  this  best  place,  is  a  mis- 
fortune which  no  amoimt  of  ingenuity  can  ever 
really  overcome. 

But  the  owner  of  the  average  building  plot 
never  suspects  it  of  possibilities  of  even  the 
tamest  sort;  consequently  such  a  plot  is  never 
treated  expectantly,  as  it  were.  What  it  has 
been,  it  is — and  apparently  is  to  go  on  being, 
time  without  end.  It  faces  north,  south,  east, 
or  west  according  to  the  direction  of  the  street 
whereon  it  fronts;  hence  the  dwelling  which 
eventually  occupies  it  also  faces  north,  south, 
east,  or  west  accordingly.  It  fronts  with  the 
front,  has  a  kitchen  at  the  back  and  a  porch 
displayed.  Thus,  limited  by  custom  and  con- 
vention and  the  lack  of  a  single  degree  of  in- 
dependent, individual  thought,  each  average 
house  is  practically  like  its  neighbor  and  is 
located  on  its  plot  of  ground  in  practically  the 


12  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

same  wasteful  way;  and  each  average  door- 
yard  has  the  same  features — or  lack  of  them. 

Of  course  there  are  restrictions  imposed 
upon  the  purchaser  of  so-called  improved 
property,  for  his  protection  as  well  as  his 
guidance,  and  it  is  right  that  there  should  be. 
But  all  of  this,  be  it  noted,  is  quite  apart  from 
these  restrictions  and  regulations.  Beyond  the 
building  line  and  the  character  and  minimum 
cost  of  the  buildings  to  be  erected,  there  is 
usually  little  that  is  arbitrarily  fixed  in  either 
the  opulent  or  humble  colony.  And  this  little 
offers  no  insurmountable  obstacle  to  doing  what 
is  really  best  in  disposing  both  house  and 
grounds — although  the  building  line  comes  very 
near  doing  so,  without  doubt.  The  elimination 
of  this  fixed  line,  however,  is  not  of  course 
possible  or  even  desirable  perhaps  under  our 
present  system  of  regulated  building;  but  the 
system  itself  is  wasteful,  vulgarly  frank  and  os- 
tentatious, and  utterly  destructive  of  garden 
opportunities  as  well  as  of  the  fine  instinct  of 
home  reserve  and  privacy  that  is  such  a  price- 
less human  asset. 

We  have  not  grown  old  enough  as  a  nation, 
however,  to  shrink  from  personal  publicity;  we 
still  cherish  the  infantile  instinct  to  cry  "hello!" 
to  the  passer-by,  to  lift  up  our  possessions  to  his 


POSITION  AND  PLAN  13 

gaze — which  will  be  flatteringly  covetous  if  these 
are  striking  enough — and  shake  them  trium- 
phantly before  him  with  an  exultant  "see!"  So 
we  have  the  veranda-stage  whereon  our  little 
dramas  are  to  be  played  before  this  audience; 
and  we  plan  all  the  settings  around  about  to 
capture  the  admiration  of  the  street. 

Consequently  the  suburbs  of  American  cities 
are  said  to  be  the  most  beautiful  in  the  world — 
to  drive  through.  Could  there  be  a  more  elo- 
quent qualification  of  praise  than  that  final 
clause?  I  think  not,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  these  are  colonies  of  homes,  not  public 
parks.  They  are  not  for  the  man  who  drives 
through.  They  are  for  the  man  who  stays 
there,  and  for  his  wife  and  his  sons  and  his 
daughters.  Yet  the  streets  are  the  most  attrac- 
tive part  of  them! 

There  are  few  at  the  present  time,  I  grant, 
who  would  have  the  courage  to  break  away 
from  what  has  come  to  be  a  traditional  style 
or  plan  here,  even  if  convinced  of  its  advan- 
tages, both  ethical  and  material;  yet  I  am 
going  to  suggest  what  a  colony  which  adopted 
the  other  older  and  better  ways  might  gain, 
and  the  very  real  beauties  which  would  remain 
in  its  streets  even  though  they  were  deprived 
of  their  domestic  panoramas. 


14  CO]\IE  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

In  the  first  place,  every  foot  of  his  ground 
is  available  to  the  man  whose  house  forms  a 
part  of  his  boundary  walls  and  whose  boundary 
is  ivalled.  If  he  buys  forty  by  one  hundred 
feet,  he  has  forty  by  one  hundred  feet  to  use — 
not  forty  by  one  hundred  less  forty  by  twenty- 
five,  or  one  quarter  of  the  whole,  which  restric- 
tions bind  him  to  turn  over  to  the  street,  to  put 
it  as  actual  unvarnished  truth.  He  has  space 
for  flowers,  fruits,  and  vegetables  to  an  unbe- 
lievable amount — unbelievable  at  least  to  those 
who  have  never  thought  about  it  or  figured  it 
out  or  tried  it — and  within  his  own  garden 
beauty  and  interest  and  recreation  and  diver- 
sion, instead  of  in  the  street. 

It  is  a  reversal  that  is  very  complete,  for  in- 
stead of  a  front  porch  overlooking  the  throng 
and  the  dust  and  invaded  by  both,  figuratively 
in  the  first  instance,  actually  in  the  second,  this 
outdoor  room  will  open  at  the  rear — or  side,  de- 
pending upon  the  proper  weather  exposure, 
which  must  always  be  the  determining  factor 
— and  looks  over  the  fruits  growing  upon  the 
wall,  the  green  things  everywhere,  flowers  in 
their  trim  borders,  a  tennis  court,  perhaps,  or 
a  bowling  green,  a  pool  in  the  sunlight  where 
water  lilies  bloom  and  gold  fish  rest  in  the 
shadows,   a  hammock  in   the  distance  under 


POSITION  AND  PLAN  15 

the  trees  with  table  and  chairs,  and  al  fresco 
breakfasts  on  fine  mornings — where  grocers' 
carts  and  dehvery  wagons  cannot  adventure, 
where  all  the  privacy  and  lounging  indolence 
of  indoors  is  possible,  out  under  the  blue  in  the 
fragrant  sweetness  of  a  true  garden. 

Yet  in  the  street  there  is  the  same  cool  shade 
that  there  has  always  been,  from  trees  along  the 
curb;  the  same  refreshing  strips  of  emerald  turf 
beneath  them;  a  flicker  of  light  and  shadow  in 
the  vines  growing  on  garden  walls  and  house 
fagades;  gleams  of  color  from  blossoms  in  win- 
dow boxes;  and  glimpses  beyond  into  delight- 
ful garden  retreats — glimpses  that  are  infinitely 
more  alluring  than  the  endless  bits  of  lawn  that 
stretch  monotonously  back  from  the  sidewalk 
to  the  inevitable  clotheslines  of  present  day 
back  yards.  And  finally  there  is  restful  unity 
of  purpose  taking  the  place  of  what  is  to-day,  at 
best,  lack  of  harmony  and  uncertainty — an  un- 
certainty that  is  inevitable  when  the  appearance 
and  general  effect  of  each  place  from  the  ground 
up  is  so  dependent  upon  the  general  effect  of  its 
neighbors,  and  of  all  the  others  in  its  block, 
standing  as  they  do  in  the  open  and  all  together. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  we  have  departed 
so  far  from  the  sensible,  reasonable  arrange- 
ment practiced  by  older  peoples — by  our  own 


IG  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

ancestors  here,  indeed,  in  early  times,  as  old 
villages  in  many  parts  of  the  country  still  bear 
witness — through  a  fundamental  misconception 
of  the  town,  village,  or  suburban  home,  its  pos- 
sibilities and  its  limitations.  We  have  not  re- 
cognized that  it  is  definitely  a  type,  alone  and 
by  itself;  as  distinct  as  the  city  home;  widely 
different  from  the  country  home.  Right  here,  in- 
deed, is  just  where  the  most  serious  error  has 
slipped  in,  for  all  the  effort  has  been  to  treat  the 
suburban  grounds  along  the  same  lines  which 
the  large  estate  admits,  to  build  the  suburban 
house  according  to  the  same  plans  from  which 
the  house  in  the  midst  of  acreage  rises. 

So  a  kind  of  landscape  gardening  has  been 
attempted,  in  a  loose  fashion,  to  which  boundary 
fences  and  walls  and  many  other  rational  fea- 
tures have  been  sacrificed  in  the  vain  hope  of 
creating  an  illusion  of  the  spaciousness  and 
splendor  which  the  town  or  suburban  place  can- 
not, in  the  very  nature  of  things,  possibly  enjoy. 
For  it  has  its  very  definite  limitations,  fixed  and 
unalterable,  of  which  it  cannot  be  rid.  Not  until 
these  are  recognized  and,  being  recognized,  are 
turned  to  account  in  the  distribution  and  orna- 
mentation of  its  grounds,  will  its  highest  pos- 
sibilities, both  esthetic  and  practical,  be  realized. 

But  in  the  colony  established  upon  the  pre- 


POSITION  AND  PLAN  17 

vailing  system  of  the  present,  the  builder  must 
of  course  conform  to  colony  restrictions  and  re- 
quirements; which  means  that  twenty -five  feet 
or  thereabouts  must  be  given  up  in  front  of  the 
dwelling — more  perhaps,  if  the  building  units 
are  deeper  and  wider  than  fifty  by  one  hundred 
feet.  This  size,  however,  is  a  fair  average,  and 
I  have  chosen  it  as  the  most  typical  plot  for  con- 
sideration throughout.  All  that  applies  to  it  ap- 
plies equally  to  the  larger  areas,  up  to  and  in- 
cluding the  quarter-acre  unit,  but  with  proper- 
ties larger  than  this  I  have  not  considered  it 
proper  here  to  deal,  for  they  are  in  a  class  apart. 

Of  course  a  farm  may  be,  and  often  is,  as 
truly  suburban  as  any  tiny  cottage  plot,  but  in 
its  special  significance  the  suburban  or  village 
home  consists  of  from  two  to  four  selling  units 
or  lots,  each  probably  twenty-five  by  one  hun- 
dred feet  in  size.  It  takes  seventeen  of  such 
lots  to  make  an  acre,  approximately,  the  exact 
size  of  the  latter  being  43,560  square  feet — or, 
reduced  to  "real  estate"  measurements,  a  tract 
one  hundred  feet  deep  by  four  hundred  and 
thirty -five  feet  and  a  fraction  over  seven  inches 
long.  One  hundred  feet  by  one  hundred,  or 
four  lots,  is  thus  not  quite  a  quarter  acre. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  houses  to  choose  be- 
tween for  the  typical  fifty  by  one  hundred  foot 


18  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

plot,  which  will  leave  the  balance  of  the  land  in 
the  most  advantageous  shape.  One  is  the  very 
narrow,  long  house  extending  far  back;  the 
other  is  the  wide  and  shallow  house  that  covers 
practically  the  entire  breadth  of  the  land.  Of 
these  two  the  latter  is  preferable  in  one  way,  as 
it  leaves  a  fairly  good  sized  rectangle  intact  be- 
tween itself  and  the  rear  boundary.  But  here 
the  exposure  must  enter  into  the  calculations — 
for  the  long  side  of  a  dwelling  ought  always  to 
meet  the  sun  and  the  prevailing  summer  breeze. 
In  the  street  running  east  and  west  the  broad, 
shallow  house  will  do  this,  but  on  north  and 
south  streets  the  long  and  narrow  form,  which 
leaves  the  open  space  at  one  side,  will  usually 
have  to  be  adopted  in  order  to  secure  the  nec- 
essary southern  exposure. 

I  assume  that  southern  exposure  is  univer- 
sally necessary  to  secure  breeze  as  well  as  sun, 
inasmuch  as  it  is  so  very  generally  so.  There 
are  instances,  of  course,  where  this  is  not  the 
case,  but  they  are  usually  owing  to  purely  local 
conditions,  topographical  or  otherwise,  and  are 
too  uncommon  to  be  reckoned  with  here.  Suf- 
fice to  say  that  where  such  local  difference  exists, 
it  is  only  necessary  to  know  from  which  direction 
the  prevailing  summer  winds  are  to  be  expected 
and  plan  for  these  as  well  as  for  the  sun. 


POSITION  AND  PLAN  19 

The  essential  thing  is  never  to  adopt  any 
plan,  however  convenient  and  interesting  it 
may  be,  that  has  not  been  developed  with  this 
thought  of  exposure  jor  your  own  particular 
location  particularly  in  mind;  and  the  right 
exposure  for  both  comfort  and  health  insured 
in  its  working  out.  Which  makes  the  ready- 
made  plan  about  as  useful  in  most  instances, 
however  meritorious  it  may  be  in  itself,  as  noth- 
ing at  all.  Only  for  what  they  may  suggest  to 
the  prospective  builder  are  such  designs  worth 
the  effort  or  money  spent  on  them;  however, 
as  they  are  frequently  thus  a  source  of  real  in- 
spiration, we  must  allow  that  they  have  their 
value  and  a  place  in  the  world's  economy. 

The  entire  design  and  the  final  effect  of  the 
ground  or  garden  treatment  of  any  place  will 
depend,  then,  upon  fixing  the  situation  of  the 
house  to  the  best  advantage.  Of  course  there 
is  no  universal  rule  to  govern  this  initial  step, 
but  there  are  two  fairly  safe  guides  which  might 
be  called  near-rules.  Here  is  the  first:  If  the 
long  and  narrow  house  be  chosen — or  demanded 
by  conditions — place  it  at  the  extreme  side  limit 
of  the  lot  and  keep  its  width  to  twenty -five  feet 
or  under.  When  I  say  at  the  extreme  side  limit 
of  the  lot,  I  mean  just  that;  cut  off  even  the 
eaves  by  choosing  a  design  that  permits  such 


20  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

treatment,  and  put  its  wall  exactly  on  the  line. 
Plan  a  basement  service  entrance  on  that  side, 
with  all  passages,  storage  spaces,  and  presses 
on  each  floor  likewise  along  its  blind  expanse. 
It  need  not  be  a  blind  wall  in  the  building  of  it 
unless  the  next  door  dwelling  makes  this  de- 
sirable; but  think  out  the  plan  so  carefully 
that  the  necessity  for  closing  up  whatever  win- 
dows it  may  contain,  should  it  arise,  will  work 
no  real  disadvantage  to  the  interior.  For  even 
the  narrow  strip  of  land  which  would  be  sac- 
rificed on  the  other  side  if  the  house  were  set 
only  a  few  feet  from  the  line,  is  precious,  mean- 
ing as  it  does  an  absolute  waste  of  anywhere 
from  one  hundred  and  twenty  to  one  hundred 
and  fifty  square  feet — according  to  the  length 
of  the  house — which  should  and  might  just  as 
well  be  conserved  in  one  with  the  ground  on  its 
sunny,  living  side. 

And  here  is  the  second:  If  the  other  sort  of 
house  is  to  be  built,  carry  it  all  the  way  across 
the  lot,  right  up  to  one  or  both  boundaries; 
and  make  it  as  shallow  as  convenience  and  ex- 
pediency will  permit,  keeping  both  its  side  walls 
blind.  There  are  two  reasons  for  this  very 
radical  obscuring  of  side  walls  and  eliminating 
of  passage  space  at  the  sides,  beside  the  reason 
already  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  long 


POSITION  AND  PLAN  21 

and  narrow  type  of  house.  One  of  them  is 
the  very  much  greater  degree  of  privacy  exist- 
ing when  an  actual  wall  of  wood  or  masonry, 
instead  of  a  transparent  wall  of  fluidic  ether, 
separates  two  households,  albeit  the  one  is 
only  a  foot  in  width  while  the  other  may  be 
five  or  six.  The  rooms  whose  windows  open 
upon  such  a  space  as  this  are  neither  light 
nor  well  ventilated,  while  they  labor  under  the 
additional  disadvantage  of  acoustic  properties 
that  make  conversation  in  them  in  tones  above 
a  whisper  decidedly  indiscreet,  except  the  top- 
ics discussed  be  of  the  most  general  character. 

The  other  reason  is  the  doing  away  with 
one  of  the  most  unpleasant  and  hopeless  spots 
around  the  suburban  house — the  gloomy,  re- 
stricted, chilly,  and  more  or  less  damp  space 
at  the  sides,  where  under  the  most  favorable 
conditions  only  a  little  sunlight  ever  reaches 
the  ground,  where  nothing  will  grow,  where 
ice  lingers  when  the  grass  is  green  everywhere 
else,  and  where  no  one  ever  goes  for  anything 
— except  perhaps  the  children  to  play,  when 
raw  winds  sweep  through  and  it  is  too  cold 
for  them  there. 

So  much  for  practical  considerations  within 
the  limits  of  the  lot  and  concerning  the  imme- 
diate family  whose  home  it  is  to  be.    And  then 


22  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

there  are  the  neighbors.  Not  what  they  think 
— be  emancipated  from  that,  in  connection  with 
home  building  at  least — but  how  they  and  their 
grounds  and  houses  are  actually  to  be  affected. 
Neighborliness  is  an  old-fashioned  quality  to  be 
sure,  almost  lost  to  the  city  dweller,  but  it  is  a 
very  worthy  one,  nevertheless.  Doubtless  the 
folks  next  door  are  queer — I  think  none  have 
ever  been  heard  of  who  were  not,  indeed,  al- 
most suspiciously  queer — but  even  this  consti- 
tutional eccentricity  of  theirs  should  not  and 
need  not  inhibit  the  true  measure  of  neighborly 
courtesy  and  consideration. 

They  are  not  of  necessity  hereditary  enemies, 
suspicions  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding;  and 
an  actual  application  of  the  golden  rule  is  pos- 
sible in  all  ordinary  cases,  as  well  as  a  most 
satisfactory  standard  of  measurement.  City 
neighbors,  living  on  either  side  of  their  party 
walls  or  piled  one  above  the  other's  head,  tier 
on  tier,  may  be  less  than  nothing  to  each  other, 
but  suburban  neighbors  are  bound  to  play  each 
a  very  definite  part  in  the  other's  life.  And 
well  begun  is  a  great  deal  more  than  half  ac- 
complished in  this  complex  relationship. 

So,  if  the  neighbors  are  there  first,  plan  not 
to  impair  their  beginnings  if  it  is  possible. 
Avoid  an  arrangement  which  will  bring  kitchen 


POSITION  AND  PLAN  23 

doors  under  living-room  windows — here  the 
blind  side  walls  again  prove  their  advantage 
by  making  such  a  catastrophe  impossible — and 
take  care  that  trees  or  shrubs  or  arbors  do  not 
cut  off  what  is  obviously  a  cherished  view, 
even  if  this  embraces  nothing  more  worthy  than 
the  distant  corner  of  a  busy  street.  If  that 
sort  of  thing  is  what  these  neighbors  like,  that 
is  the  thing  they  enjoy  looking  at;  do  not  de- 
prive them  of  it  if  it  is  possible  to  do  the  best 
by  your  own  place  without  doing  so. 

But  on  the  other  hand,  never  let  a  neighbor's 
misconceptions  and  bad  taste  be  an  obstacle  to 
doing  the  very  best  that  it  is  possible  to  do 
with  the  home  that  you  are  building.  Put  your 
house  where  it  ought  to  go,  making  it  the  form 
and  size  and  style  that  you  require;  screen 
what  may  need  screening;  fence,  wall,  or  hedge 
the  entire  property  —  invariably  —  and  never 
plan  any  part  or  feature  so  that  it  is  in  any 
way  dependent  upon  the  property  adjacent. 
This  is  not  to  say  that  two  places  may  not  be 
delightfully  developed  through  mutual  conces- 
sions and  by  means  of  a  unified  plan  that  em- 
braces both;  but  even  in  doing  this,  they  should 
be  kept  distinct.  For,  however  amicable  the 
relations  between  two  families  may  be,  there  is 
always  the  possibility  of  a  change  in  one  or 


24  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

both  households  that  may  change  all  the  cir- 
cumstances absolutely.  Be  courteous,  be  con- 
siderate, make  as  generous  concessions  as  friend- 
ship may  prompt — but  be  independent. 

Of  the  division  and  use  of  the  ground  space 
left  after  building  there  are  only  a  few  general 
things  to  be  said  here,  this  being  a  subject  for 
more  special  discussion  in  subsequent  chapters. 
It  is  well  for  us  to  remember,  however,  that  the 
most  delightful  small  gardens  that  have  ever 
been  made  have  never  been  devoted  wholly  to 
flowers  and  flowering  shrubs.  These  are  the 
humble  cottage  gardens  of  the  old  world,  which, 
though  ablaze  with  flowers,  furnish  their  quota 
of  salads  and  greens,  too,  and  of  pungent  herbs 
and  fruits.  And  there  is  no  doubt  that  greater 
thrift  in  gardening  practice  here  would  produce 
gardens  of  much  greater  interest  and  beauty. 

We  are  and  always  have  been  a  nation  of 
wasters;  nowhere  is  this  more  apparent  than  in 
our  handling  of  these  small  home  plots.  If  we 
could  reform  ourselves  in  this  respect  it  would 
be  a  great  accomplishment  from  the  esthetic  as 
well  as  the  practical  point  of  view.  For  it  is 
not  so  much  a  matter  of  money — although  it 
counts  decidedly,  in  real  cash — but  a  matter  of 
sound  judgment;  of  good  habits  of  order  and 
eflBciency  and  usefulness;  of  quickening  the  fac- 


iei brary 
N.    C.    State    Colle^ire 


POSITION  AND  PLAN  25 

ulty  of  appreciation.  Moreover,  although  we 
have  not  needed  to  husband  the  natural  re- 
sources of  this  fine  and  fat  land  wherein  we  are 
the  fortunate  dwellers,  to  any  appreciable  de- 
gree, the  time  is  not  so  far  distant  when  we  shall 
be  obliged  to  do  so. 

Gardening  is  arduous  work,  of  that  there  can 
be  no  question,  nor  to  it  a  denial  from  any  hon- 
est person  of  actual  experience.  But  gardening 
among  vegetables  and  flowers  is  no  more  ardu- 
ous than  among  flowers  alone — and  I  think  that 
no  one  who  has  tried  it  will  deny  that  it  is  a  deal 
more  gratifying  and  satisfying.  There  should 
be  flowers  of  course,  quantities  of  them;  but 
they  ought  never  to  crowd  out  the  eatable 
plants.  Even  the  tiny  garden  of  the  suburban 
home  has  room  for  several  of  the  choicest  of 
these;  and,  with  its  house  on  the  north  so  that 
sunlight  and  protection  are  assured,  and  the 
largest  area  possible  is  available  for  cultivation, 
there  is  not  a  single  reason  for  failure  to  round 
out  a  useful  as  well  as  a  beautiful  garden. 

Abandoning  once  and  for  all  then  the  wrong 
ideal  which  sees  in  the  small-town  home  a  coun- 
try home  in  miniature,  as  well  as  the  wrong  idea 
which  regards  it  as  impossible  of  improvement 
from  its  barrenness;  and  taking  all  the  points 
which  have  been  covered  into  consideration. 


26  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

balancing  one  against  the  other,  it  seems  to  me 
that  we  may  almost  declare  it  as  an  axiom  that 
its  highest  beauty  will  certainly  be  achieved 
only  when  a  sane  utilitarian  spirit  is  suffered  to 
guide;  when  efficiency  leads  and  beauty  follows 
after  to  adorn.  Neither  need  be  sacrificed  in  the 
least  degree,  if  their  relationship  is  understood 
and  kept  true. 


"Many  things  difficult  to  design  prove  easy  to  per- 
formance."— Samuel  Johnson. 


CHAPTER  III 

Designing  a  Garden 

GARDENS  as  we  commonly  know  them  are  not 
exalted  to  the  dignity  of  being  designed,  for 
garden  is  a  term  that  is  usually  applied  only  to 
that  portion  of  the  ground  whereon  vegetables 
grow.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  should  not  be 
so  limited,  for  rightly  a  garden  is  an  inclosed 
space  planted  with  trees,  fruits,  flowers,  or  vege- 
tables, or  all  four.  So  really  the  entire  grounds 
about  a  dwelling  constitute  its  garden  or  gar- 
dens; so  it  is  as  a  garden  that  I  am  going  to  ask 
you  to  think  of  them.  It  is  these  in  their  en- 
tirety that  are  to  be  furnished  with  a  design — 
that  is,  that  are  to  be  planned  and  made  orderly 
and  beautiful.  And  they  must  be  considered  as 
a  unit  in  order  to  accomplish  this  with  the  best 
results. 

There  must  be  no  slipshod  treatment  any- 
27 


28  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

where,  no  ignoring  of  any  portion,  and  no  sep- 
aration of  one  part  from  another.  All  together 
the  plot  of  ground  must  be  considered,  the  front 
yard,  back  yard,  and  sides,  if  there  are  sides. 
Before  a  bush  or  tree  or  flower  is  planted,  a  plan 
which  holds  all  these  somewhat  separated  parts 
together  into  a  well-balanced  and  consistent 
whole  should  be  adopted.  This  is  necessary  not 
only  from  the  sesthetic  point  of  view,  but  from 
the  practical  as  well,  for  only  the  most  careful 
planning  will  insure  the  needed  space  for  the 
various  garden  features;  only  such  planning  is 
economical  in  the  true  sense  of  the  word.  It  is 
the  arrangement  of  these  features  in  accord  with 
the  ideals  of  harmony  and  beauty — and  economy 
— that  constitutes  garden  design. 

A  vast  amount  of  theory  has  been  promul- 
gated with  regard  to  this  art,  and  hundreds  of 
years  of  controversy  have  illuminated  or  ob- 
scured the  subject,  according  to  the  nature  of 
the  controversialists.  But  all  the  discussion  has 
left  us  very  little  indeed  that  is  suggestive  when 
it  comes  to  dealing  with  the  most  modern  prob- 
lem of  all  in  gardening,  the  problem  which  is 
now  before  us.  It  really  seems  that  we  must 
solve  it  independently,  just  as  we  are  solving 
the  problem  of  the  suburban  house.  Present 
conditions    must    evolve    something    to   meet 


DESIGNING  A  GARDEN  29 

their  need.  That  a  desire  to  do  something 
more  definite  than  has  been  done  is  manifest- 
ing itself  proves  this  evolutionary  process  to 
be  in  action,  shows  that  we  are  making  pro- 
gress. Having  at  last  learned  something  about 
building,  so  that  our  houses  are  improving, 
we  are  beginning  to  be  ready  to  learn  some- 
thing about  the  finer  art  of  gardening — as  man 
has  ever  done. 

Already  I  have  said  that  radical  departures 
are  necessary  in  order  to  arrive  at  the  most  that 
may  be  done  with  the  small-town  home.  Until 
this  fact  is  recognized  and  acted  upon,  the  end- 
less lawns  of  these  places  will  remain — fresh  and 
green  and  much  better  than  some  less  agreeable 
treatment  might  be,  to  be  sure — yet  tamely  un- 
interesting. That  they  are  uninteresting,  when 
all  is  said  and  done,  is  most  certainly  demon- 
strated by  the  refreshment  which  even  the  most 
phlegmatic  experience  when,  of  a  sudden,  a  real 
garden  comes  into  view  in  place  of  the  few 
shrubs  and  greensward  so  common.  However 
unsuccessful  such  a  garden  may  be  from  the 
artistic  standpoint,  it  has  interest,  hence  it  pro- 
motes real  enthusiasm.  It  is  to  such  treatment, 
therefore,  rather  than  to  the  conventional  scat- 
tered planting  of  a  few  trees  and  shrubs,  that  I 
am  going  to  direct  attention,  and  with  it  I  am 


30 


I.  Scheme  for  plot  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet  in  size,  with 
a  narrow  house  which  leaves  garden  space  at  one  side. 

The  house  plan  and  garden  plan  are  treated  as  a  unit. 
The  garage  is  placed  next  the  street,  avoiding  a  long  drive 
and  its  consequent  waste  and  disfigurement.  The  hall  lies 
between  garage  and  house  proper.  The  transverse  axis  of 
the  Living  Room  furnishes  the  first  feature  of  the  garden — 
a  broad  terrace  carrying  the  porch  level  to  the  side  bound- 
ary, and  there  screened  from  outside  observation  by  a  series 
of  rose-garland  columns  from  which  chains  are  suspended. 
On  these  chains  the  roses  are  trained.  The  terrace  is  re- 
tained by  a  dry,  stone  wall. 

The  entrance  from  the  street  to  the  house  is  on  the  axis 
of  the  porch  (A-B),  which  axis  furnishes  the  further  union 
with  the  rest  of  the  grounds  by  a  path  extending  to  a  Wall 
Fountain  at  the  rear.  This  main  entrance  passes  into  a 
small  flower  garden  under  a  rose  arch,  which  spans  the 
opening  in  the  evergreen  hedge — kept  low — surrounding 
this  little  garden.  A  sundial  is  set  in  the  middle;  the  form 
of  the  flower  border  is  governed  by  the  form  of  the  steps 
approaching  the  front  door  of  the  house.  It  is  to  be  noted 
that  all  this  portion  is  on  a  lower  level  than  the  terrace 
and  porch,  and  that  tall  flowers  planted  before  these 
effectually  screen  them. 

Disposed  around  the  boundaries  of  the  front  portion  are 
eight  dv/arf  fruit  trees.  Behind  the  terrace  there  is  space 
for  a  rose  garden  if  desired,  or  for  strawberries  and  salad 
plants.  A  mass  of  small  fruits  behind  this  space  divides  it 
from  the  section  across  the  back  of  the  plot,  all  of  which 
may  be  devoted  to  a  little  kitchen  garden  if  desired. 

The  service  entrance  to  the  house  is  through  the  base- 
ment by  means  of  stairs  at  the  side  of  the  garage,  screened 
by  a  lattice.  The  second  story  of  the  house  extends  over 
the  garage  and  overhangs  above  these  stairs,  thus  virtually 
closing  them  in.  A  lift  leads  into  the  kitchen  from  the  cellar 
for  the  delivery  of  groceries,  etc.,  and  stairs  lead  up  to  a 
grade  door,  giving  access  to  the  rear. 

31 


32  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

going  to  deal;  for  the  conventional  planting  is 
so  well  known  that  time  spent  in  advice  con- 
cerning it  would  be  wasted. 

First,  let  us  take  the  attitude  that  the  ground 
plot,  or  plot  of  ground,  right  up  to  its  bound- 
aries, is  a  plane  or  flat  surface  whereon  some 
interesting  motif  is  to  be  executed.  Regard  it 
in  the  same  way  that  the  cover  of  a  book  or  the 
top  of  a  box  or  any  other  sharply  defined  object 
would  be  regarded,  if  it  fell  to  your  lot  to  orna- 
ment such;  disregard  entirely  at  first  the  fact 
that  it  is  ground,  that  it  is  your  suburban  lot. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  be  an  artist,  nor  even  a 
student  of  design,  in  order  to  observe  one  or  two 
things  concerning  it  which  are  fundamentals. 
One  of  these  is  the  presence  of  a  border  in  all  de- 
signs of  definite  limitation.  All-over  patterns 
lack  the  border,  but  other  designs,  if  they  are 
good  ones,  do  not.  It  may  be  only  a  broad  line 
or  a  series  of  parallel  lines,  but  it  is  invariably 
present  when  the  design  is  made  to  conform  to 
a  certain  place  and  space  and  form,  framing  the 
figures  of  it,  holding  them  strongly  together. 
So  a  border  must  confine  the  design  that  is  to 
be  executed  upon  the  ground.  What  this  border 
is  to  be  made  of  need  not  be  considered  just  yet; 
that  there  is  to  be  an  inclosure  of  one  kind  or  an- 
other, a  definite  and  defensive  barrier  between 


To  see  in  this  composition  the  whole  of  a  httle  garden 
in  place  of  the  arbored  alcove,  with  grass  where  now  are 
tiles  and  flowers  growing  against  its  walls,  is  to  look  with 
the  imaginative  eye  which  garden  making  should  develop 


DESIGNING  A  GARDEN  33 

the  garden  and  the  rest  of  the  world,  is  enough 
for  a  beginning. 

Right  here  let  me  say  that  I  cannot  express 
too  earnestly  the  belief  that  nothing  worth  while 
will  ever  be  done  with  suburban  or  any  other 
gardens  until  we  restore  the  fences  and  walls  so 
ruthlessly  torn  down  and  abandoned  around  the 
latter  quarter  of  the  last  century.  Neither  will 
it  be  possible  to  accomplish  much  while  our 
highest  inspiration  is  the  work  undertaken  by 
real-estate  development  companies.  They  were 
responsible  for  this  destruction  of  boundary 
markings  in  the  first  place,  in  their  endeavors  to 
make  streets  "catchy"  by  reason  of  their  nov- 
elty to  persons  passing  through  them,  every 
such  person  being  of  course  a  potential  sale. 
And  because  it  is  still  the  streets  that  the  com- 
mercial designer  wishes  to  dangle  as  bait  before 
the  undiscriminating,  he  will  fight  every  effort 
to  restore  privacy  to  private  grounds  and  the 
thrusting  out  from  them  of  the  public  highway. 

There  is  absolutely  no  incentive  to  really  fine 
garden  work  under  the  conditions  which  are  to 
him  ideal,  however,  and  as  long  as  these  are  tol- 
erated, the  art  will  languish.  Be  sure  of  that. 
Not  until  all  places,  without  exception,  are  in- 
closed completely — and  have  gates,  too,  at  their 
entrances,  not  merely  unprotected  openings — 


m  \  ^. 


84 


II.  Scheme  for  plot  fifty  by  one  hundred  feet  in  size, 
using  a  house  that  extends  across  the  land  from  boundary 
to  boundary,  leaving  garden  space  at  the  rear. 

This  house  is  Colonial  in  style,  with  garage  and  kitchen 
gables  on  either  end,  facing  the  street.  It  is  centered  on 
the  land  and  the  one  axis  serves  to  unite  the  entire  scheme. 
A  fence  surrounds  this  property,  and  from  the  house  back 
this  is  high  enough  to  be  a  complete  screen.  Around  the 
front  it  is  lower,  allowing  free  view  of  the  lawn,  circled  by 
the  entrance  walk,  which  joins  the  short  drive  on  its  side. 
Passing  through  the  house  onto  the  broad  porch  the  simple 
flower  border  opposite  the  house,  backed  by  a  low  ever- 
green hedge,  conceals  the  sunken  kitchen  garden  which  oc- 
cupies the  rest  of  the  space.  A  long  but  shallow  arbor,  open 
on  the  inner  side,  with  seats  beneath  it,  encloses  the  rear. 

At  the  end  of  the  porch,  back  of  the  garage,  is  a  bird 
sanctuary,  consisting  of  a  tangle  of  berried  shrubs  with 
some  cedars,  a  bird-feeding  station  atop  a  high  post,  and 
a  bird-bathing  basin. 

Opposite  this  feature,  at  the  other  end  of  the  porch,  and 
screening  the  path  from  the  basement  to  the  kitchen  gar- 
den, is  a  mass  of  small  fruits,  supplementing  the  six  dwarf 
fruit  trees  which  line  the  walk  at  the  front.  Before  the 
garage  is  a  shade  tree. 


S5 


86  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

will  the  instinct  really  to  make  garden  awaken 
and  really  beautiful  gardens  appear. 

With  the  border  allowed  for — mark  off  a  space 
at  least  one  foot  wide  all  around  for  such  allow- 
ance, wider  if  you  purpose  planting  a  hedge — 
the  plan  of  the  space  inclosed  by  it  is  immedi- 
ately before  us.  And  here  the  personal  equation 
enters  at  once,  large  and  influential.  People  are 
divided,  I  find,  into  what  I  have  secretly  called 
orderly  and  disorderly  in  the  matter  of  taste 
in  gardens — secretly  because  disorderly  seems 
generally  to  imply  reproach,  although  I  do  not 
know  that  it  does  in  this  connection.  In  fact, 
the  disorderly  type  commonly  regard  the  orderly 
ones  as  offenders  and  apply  the  adjective  to 
them  almost  in  the  tone  of  an  epithet.  So  it  all 
depends  really  onthe  point  of  view;  but  after 
all,  this  is  not  pertinent  to  the  question  now  and 
here  involved.  What  matters  here  is  the  choice 
between  regularity,  symmetry,  formality  if  you 
will,  and  Irregularity,  complexity,  asymmetry, 
disorder  in  one  sense — not  actual  untidiness  but 
lack  of  arrangement.  Everyone  of  us  will  take 
sides  here,  one  way  or  the  other;  this  Is  the  big 
personal  equation  that  will  Influence  all  the  gar- 
den's plan  within  the  simple  lines  representing 
its  boundary. 

With  equally  careful  planning  it  might  seem 


DESIGNING  A  GARDEN  87 

at  first  that  neither  system  would  have  an  ad- 
vantage over  the  other,  but  there  is  a  distinct 
advantage  in  practical  accomplishment  lying  al- 
ways with  the  symmetrical  arrangement.  Walks 
that  follow  straight  lines  leave  no  useless  corners 
and  produce  no  wasted  strips  or  crescents  here 
and  there.  Every  inch  of  space  counts  for  its 
very  fullest  in  the  garden  of  mathematical  pre- 
cision. Moreover  it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  con- 
tinually the  fact  that  whatever  the  natural  taste 
may  be,  whether  it  demands  a  measure  of  care- 
less irregularity  and  repudiates  positively  the 
symmetry  and  order  which  are  to  another  the 
highest  form  of  beauty,  or  no,  the  limitations  of 
the  space  and  of  the  surroundings  impose  cor- 
responding limitations  on  individual  garden 
development. 

In  the  interest  of  general  harmony  and  seem- 
liness,  therefore,  order  of  one  sort  or  another 
must  distinguish  even  the  irregular  design. 
Wilderness  treatment  is  as  out  of  place  in  town 
environment  as  log-cabin  architecture;  and 
though  there  may  be  the  most  secluded  nooks 
and  idyllic  retreats,  there  must  be  a  certain 
all-pervading  neat  precision.  In  other  words, 
limited  grounds  may  show  only  to  a  very  lim- 
ited degree  that  element  which  we  commonly, 
though  not  very  exactly,   designate  as  infor- 


D.l     /8x/4 


lfilll'll"H'Hi''(n-Sal 


tJ 


88 


III.  Scheme  for  a  city  plot  measuring  thirty  by  one 
hundred  feet  in  size.    (This  is  one  and  a  half  city  lots.) 

Here  a  fireproof  house  has  its  garage  and  kitchen  im- 
mediately on  the  street;  the  main  entrance  to  the  house 
itself  is  at  the  side  of  the  garage  and  through  iron  gates 
that  lead  to  a  tiled  porch.  The  living  room  opens  onto  the 
garden  at  its  far  end,  while  the  dining  room  opens  also  at 
its  rear  upon  a  paved  court,  in  which  is  set  an  outdoor 
aquarium.  The  house  wall  continues  around  the  garden, 
with  shrubbery  at  one  side,  an  arbor  at  the  rear,  and  vines. 
One  ornamental  tree  is  placed  midway  along  the  paved 
walk  leading  from  the  court  to  a  piece  of  sculpture  at  the 
rear. 

In  connection  with  city  gardens  it  is  to  be  noted  that,  in 
general,  an  arbor  offers  more  secluded  shade  than  a  tree, 
since  beneath  an  arbor  and  its  mat  of  vines  no  eyes  from 
upper  windows  may  penetrate.  Moreover,  vines  may  al- 
ways be  found  that  will  grow  and  shortly  cover  an  arbor, 
whereas  trees  will  not  always  grow  in  the  city — and  even 
when  they  will  they  are  a  long  time  about  it. 


39 


40  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

mality.  They  must  conform  to  the  general 
spirit  of  order. 

Rightly  conceived,  the  garden  is  in  the  na- 
ture of  an  outdoor  extension  of  the  house. 
Every  house  requires  a  certain  amount  of  gar- 
den treatment  to  make  its  presence  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  anything  but  an  impertinence;  for 
the  hard  and  definite  lines  created  with  man's 
compass  and  square  are  antagonistic  to  every 
impulse  of  nature  and  the  natural  outdoors,  and 
must  be  led  up  to  gradually  and  insinuatingly, 
if  harmony  between  man's  work  and  nature's 
is  ever  to  be  attained.  The  charm  of  the  an- 
cient house  is  largely  owing  to  the  loss  of  this 
acute  and  hard  precision  of  line  and  form  oc- 
casioned by  its  settling  and  yielding  to  Time — 
a  very  subtle  and  inappreciable  loss  in  the  case 
of  well-preserved  buildings,  yet  distinctly  effec- 
tive in  the  bringing  together  of  artificial  and 
natural.  Similarly,  the  thatch  roof,  either  new 
or  old,  is  a  wonderful  harmonizer,  partly  be- 
cause of  its  gracious  lines  and  partly  because 
of  its  crude  natural  material,  topping  and  over- 
shadowing the  walls  that  are  so  artificial. 

From  the  house,  therefore,  the  garden  is  to 
work  out  in  its  several  directions,  to  the  outer 
limits  or  boundary  of  the  plot.  Hence  it  is 
from  the  house  that  the  start  must  be  made 


DESIGNING  A  GARDEN  41 

with  the  design;  in  other  words,  the  house  it- 
self will  furnish  the  first  motif  or  form  in  the 
design.  And  the  principal  doors  or  porches  or 
porch  entrances  or  windows  will  furnish  incep- 
tive points  from  which  the  secondary  motifs 
will  proceed.  Just  what  form  these  shall  take 
and  just  how  they  shall  be  unified  in  spite  of 
their  diversity,  are  things  which  each  designer 
must  decide  for  himself — and  for  the  particular 
situation  which  he  is  at  work  upon.  Now,  there- 
fore, we  come  to  considering  the  design  as  ap- 
plied to  the  ground,  rather  than  to  a  flat  ab- 
stract surface  of  the  given  form. 

Here  we  are  at  once  quite  beyond  the  realm 
of  certainty  or  rule,  and  only  by  the  aid  of 
diagrams  will  it  be  possible  for  me  to  general- 
ize even,  with  any  chance  of  being  understood. 
Four  designs,  therefore,  are  shown;  but  in  none 
of  these  are  more  than  the  main  features  given, 
it  being  my  wish  only  to  suggest  here  principles 
for  guidance  which  may  be  applied  universally, 
rather  than  actually  to  give  detailed  designs. 

Starting  with  the  house,  in  detailed  plan, 
located  upon  the  ground,  the  successive  steps 
in  the  working  up  of  each  design  are  explained. 
That  this  natural  development  of  the  design 
by  logical  steps  requires  the  detailed  house 
plan  is  obvious;    let  nothing  induce  you  to 


©  ©^ 


© 
"©M© 


4-©^®© 


42 


Three  Shrubbery  Groups  for  Different  Places 
Planting  ICet 

If  situated  in  full  sunlight: 

1 .  Forsy thia Forsythia  Fortunei 

2.  Spirea Spircea  Van  Houttei 

3.  Japanese  barberry Berheris  Thunghergii 

4.  Highbush  cranberry Viburnum  oyulus 

5.  Rose  of  Sharon Hibiscus  Syriacus 

6.  Hydrangea Hydrangea  paniculata  grandijlora 

7.  Panicled  cornel Cornus  paniculata 

8.  Mock  orange  (syringa) . . .  Philadelphus  coronarius 

9.  Bush  honeysuckle Lonicera  Morrowi 

10.  Deutzia Deutzia  Lemoinei 

11.  Common  barberry Berberis  vulgaris 

12.  Sheepberry Viburnum  Lentago 

If  situated  in  shade: 

1.  Silver  bell Hdesia  tdtraptera 

2.  Tree  hydrangea Hydrangea  arborescens 

3.  Japanese  barberry Berberis  Thunbergii 

4.  Red  osier Cornus  stolonifera 

5.  Silky  cornel Cornus  Amomum 

6.  Regel's  privet Ligustrum  Ibota  Regeliannm 

7.  Panicled  cornel Cornus  paniculata 

8.  Sweet  pepper-bush Clethra  alnifolia 

9.  Maple-leaved  viburnum . .  Viburnum  acerifolium 

10.  Deutzia Deutzia  Pride  of  Rochester 

11.  Privet Ligustrum  Ibota 

12.  Indian  cherry Rhamnus  Carolina 


43 


44  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

omit  the  careful  drawing  of  this  plan,  there- 
fore, exact  and  to  true  scale,  before  another 
line  is  drawn.  It  may  seem  an  unnecessary 
task  at  first  thought  to  take  such  pains,  espe- 
cially if  the  house  is  built  and  you  are  thor- 
oughly familiar  with  its  layout;  but  house  and 
garden  are  to  be  a  unit,  each  complementing 
the  other.  Remember  this;  and  remember  that 
the  one  preeminent  means  of  unification  is  the 
axis.  Without  an  exact  plan  on  paper  no  axes 
are  possible,  however  familiar  you  may  be  with 
the  house  plan;  hence  no  means  is  provided 
for  wedding  the  outdoors  to  indoors.  Even  the 
single  axis,  however,  which  a  window  or  door 
or  portico  may  furnish,  gives  immediate  solidity 
and  the  strength  of  unity.  Keep  the  need  of 
this  in  mind  and  spare  no  pains  to  secure  it. 

The  first  three  of  these  designs  are  not  formal 
in  the  sense  of  being  symmetrical,  it  will  be 
noticed,  though  the  second  approaches  sym- 
metry. The  reason  for  this  is  the  lack  of  sym- 
metry in  the  house  plans  from  which  they  spring. 
Always  it  must  be  house  first;  then,  from  this, 
rationally  and  conveniently  and  harmoniously, 
the  garden. 


"To  sing  the  same  tune,  as  the  saymg  Is,  is  in  everything 
cloying  and  offensive;  but  men  are  generally  pleased  with 
variety. ' ' — ^Plutarch  . 


CHAPTER  IV 

Grades,  Levels  and  Contours 

WHILE  it  is  true  that  the  usual  flat  surface 
of  an  average  plot  offers  few  alternatives 
in  the  matter  of  grading,  it  is  also  true  that  such 
a  place  is  not  as  devoid  of  interest  and  possibil- 
ities as  our  accustomed  and  casual  view  of  it 
presumes  it  to  be.  For  one  thing,  the  unbroken 
level  is  not  imperative  even  on  the  perfectly  flat 
piece  of  ground;  and  for  another,  ground  that  is 
perfectly  flat  is  not  as  common  as  we  fancy,  or 
as  the  appearance  of  most  finished  suburbs 
would  seem  to  indicate.  It  is  our  conception 
of  it  as  flat  that  is  responsible  for  its  becoming 
so  with  the  aid  of  shovels  and  barrows  and 
scoops  and  rakes — those  flatirons  with  which  we 
smooth  all  the  subtle  little  character  wrinkles 
and  coy  dimples  out  of  the  good  brown  earth. 
This  matter  of  grading — of  ironing  the  face  of 
45 


46  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

the  earth  out  smooth — is  an  obsession  which  I 
am  tempted  to  believe  leads  to  wilder  extrava- 
gances than  any  other  in  which  a  man  may  in- 
dulge. And  it  afflicts  all  sorts  of  men.  Thomas 
Jefferson  spent  ten  years  in  leveling  a  space  eight 
or  ten  acres  in  extent  on  the  top  of  the  mountain 
where  he  built  his  home;  and  the  sages  of  a  vil- 
lage whereof  I  wot  not  long  since  graded  to  a 
level  the  entire  town!  Tons  of  earth  from  the 
broad  tops  of  gentle  knolls  were  laboriously 
hauled  down  upon  the  gracious  curves  of  equally 
gentle  depressions — a  feat  that  dressed  many 
of  the  roads  with  rich  top  soil  and  left  much  of 
the  land  stripped  to  its  barren  clay  subsoil  and 
as  incapable  as  stone  of  supporting  vegetation; 
while  the  trees  everywhere,  on  both  upland  and 
lowland,  were  most  of  them  killed,  and  the 
entire  section  was  robbed  of  its  character  and 
all  the  claims  to  beauty  and  distinction  which  it 
once  enjoyed. 

It  seems  to  me  that  neither  Mr.  Jefferson  nor 
the  authorities  of  this  town  could  have  stopped 
to  think;  yet  a  hundred  years  and  more  have 
intervened  between  them,  and  this  age  should 
know  better  if  the  other  did  not.  But  the  en- 
deavor has  always  been  and  is  to  change  what 
creation  itself  has  done  with  the  earth.  It  seems 
to  be  impossible  for  the  majority  of  human  be- 


GRADES,  LEVELS,  CONTOURS         47 

ings  to  look  at  a  hillside  with  an  eye  to  building 
a  house  thereon,  without  immediately  begin- 
ning to  calculate  how  the  work  of  leveling  will 
improve  God-given  conditions.  Even  those  who 
are  most  truly  lovers  of  nature,  of  rocks  and 
woods  and  wilderness,  fall  into  the  same  line  of 
thought  when  it  comes  to  a  consideration  of 
domestic  grading;  and  the  suburban  place  ad- 
justed to  its  site,  when  that  site  is  the  least  bit 
unruly,  is  the  rarest  of  rarities. 

Already  the  rule  which  I  would  establish  in 
handling  grades  is  apparent,  I  think,  without 
being  formulated;  but  if  it  is  to  be  a  rule  it 
must  be  expressed.  I  have  always  called  it  fol- 
lowing the  lead  of  the  land.  After  all,  this  is 
what  we  are  bound  to  do,  in  the  long  run.  We 
may  stir  up  a  little  dust  here,  and  scratch  off  a 
little  there,  but  from  the  great  lead  of  the  land, 
rising  and  dipping  or  stretching  off  to  the  hori- 
zon as  level  as  the  sea,  we  can  never,  actually, 
get  away.  And  it  is  a  waste  of  energy  and  time 
— and  beauty — to  try. 

Approach  your  individual  problem  without 
preconceived  ideas  to  befog  its  real  demands  as 
well  as  its  real  possibilities.  Then  you  will  be 
able  to  conceive  a  design  or  scheme  for  it  that 
will  be  actually  a  part  of  it,  and  of  it  alone,  un- 
influenced by  this  or  that  that  has  appealed  to 


48  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

the  fancy  somewhere,  sometime.  If  creation 
has  whimsically  tilted  the  ground  appropriated 
to  your  use  at  ever  so  steep  an  angle,  that  angle 
should  not  only  be  accepted  as  a  motif,  but  it 
should  be  emphasized.  Go  farther  than  tolera- 
tion— or  resignation.  Seize  upon  the  extrava- 
gance of  a  site  always  and  make  it  the  feature 
of  the  place;  develop  the  plan  of  both  house 
and  grounds  not  merely  to  fit  the  situation  but 
to  require  it.  There  is  a  great  difference  in 
spirit  between  these  two — as  great  a  difference 
as  always  lies  between  negative  and  positive. 
And  as  great  a  difference  will  show  in  results. 

For  example,  the  house  and  garden  occupying 
what  has  facetiously  been  dubbed  a  vertical 
plot  should  be  developed  up  and  down — verti- 
cally as  well  as  horizontally.  Different  levels  in 
both  should  be  emphasized,  and  may  even  be 
exaggerated  sometimes,  by  any  device  that  will 
tend  to  do  this.  Topping  a  height  with  tall, 
straight  trees,  like  poplars,  is  one  means  to  this 
end,  while  the  use  of  a  spirited  architecture  of 
rising  lines  is  another.  Entrances  to  the  house 
at  various  levels  which  evolve  of  themselves  in 
adjusting  to  such  a  site  contribute  greatly  to 
the  charm  of  the  whole  and  create  an  interest 
of  the  quaint  and  unexpected  indoors  and  out, 
as  well  as  opportunity  for  the  most  delightful 


GRADES,  LEVELS,  CONTOURS         49 

garden  schemes.  A  little  more  constructive  work 
out  of  doors  is  necessary  in  the  making  of  re- 
taining walls,  perhaps,  and  steps,  but  these 
once  made  are  permanent,  and  the  different 
levels  afford  real  gardening  space. 

Contrast  such  a  treatment  with  the  unhappy, 
barren,  uninteresting  effect  which  is  all  that  the 
most  carefully  smoothed  slope  achieves,  and 
contrast  its  upkeep,  too,  with  the  difficulties  of 
maintaining  such  a  slope,  of  keeping  it  grassed 
and  mowed — indeed  of  keeping  it  there  at  all 
under  the  wash  of  heavy  rains  and  the  freez- 
ing and  thawing  of  winter — and  there  is  not  a 
single  point  in  favor  of  the  latter.  Yet  so  bent 
upon  leveling  and  smoothing  are  a  great  many 
architects  and  their  patrons  too,  that  not  one 
house  in  fifty,  big  or  little,  do  we  find  following 
the  lead  of  the  land.  Which  is  a  pretty  large 
percentage  of  wrong  beginnings  and,  taken  in 
the  aggregate,  a  startling  waste — as  well  as  a 
discouraging  state  of  affairs  to  the  landscape 
architect,  called  in  later.  For  the  mistakes  in, 
and  of,  the  house  make  the  best  work  out  of 
doors  impossible,  as  I  think  I  have  already 
shown  in  the  previous  chapter.  A  garden,  you 
know,  grows  out  from  the  house. 

So  start  right.  Find  the  lead  and  then  follow 
it — and  until  it  is  found  do  not  take  a  step.    For 


50  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

whatever  the  topography,  there  is  a  lead;  and 
though  it  may  hide  itself  persistently,  diligent 
consideration  will  reveal  it.  Hints  rise  veri- 
tably out  of  the  ground,  so  it  is  the  ground 
that  must  be  searched  to  find  them.  Keep  in 
mind  that  the  object  in  all  you  do  is  to  insinuate 
your  presence  and  handiwork  into  the  presence 
of  the  earth  spirits  and  their  handiwork  so 
gently  and  deftly  and  subtly  that  harmony  will 
never  be  disturbed;  and  realize  that  this  may 
be  done  only  by  accepting  their  mood  as  dis- 
played in  the  chosen  bit  and  adopting  it  for 
yours — for  the  mood  of  your  home.  Do  the 
thing,  in  other  words,  that  is  obviously  the  logi- 
cal thing,  the  thing  that  evolves  easily  and 
naturally  along  the  lines  established  back  in  the 
ages  when  earth  was  plastic.  Low  ground  or 
high,  flat  or  sloping,  take  it  as  it  is;  do  as  it 
bids  you. 

Difiiculties  are  at  once  apprehended  at  this 
mention  of  low  ground,  I  know;  but  there  is 
really  no  more  reason  for  shrinking  from  frank 
treatment  in  a  hollow  than  on  a  hill.  Bear  in 
mind,  too,  that  unskilled  labor  can  cart  earth 
from  place  to  place  and  fill  the  hollow  with  the 
hill,  but  surely  intelligence  and  imagination 
ought  not  to  resort  to  methods  so  crude.  Intel- 
ligence and  imagination  should  be  able  to  pre- 


GRADES,  LEVELS,  CONTOURS         51 

serve  the  hollow  and  the  hill  and  to  find  a  way 
to  make  both  habitable  and  beautiful. 

Where  there  is  no  complicating  drainage  to 
consider,  the  sunken  garden  planned  especially 
for  winter  snugness  perhaps,  sheltered  and 
sunny,  is  obviously  the  solution.  But  where 
water  settles,  something  else  must  be  done  of 
course.  Yet  the  very  last  thing  which  ought 
ever  to  be  thought  of  in  handling  a  natural 
drainage  dip  is  filling  in.  Such  a  situation  is 
never  improved  by  filling,  for  water  below  the 
surface  is  no  real  advantage,  when  it  comes  to 
the  matter  of  dry  foundations,  over  water  on  the 
surface.  What,  then,  is  to  be  done  where  water 
stands? 

Make  the  water  difficulty  a  feature  by  con- 
centrating on  it  and  putting  enough  thought 
into  its  treatment  to  earn  and  reap  the  reward 
of  a  personal  triumph  and  of  individuality  and 
beauty  in  the  garden.  Find  the  key  to  the  situ- 
ation— and  use  it.  Why  is  the  water  there?  For 
no  reason  save  that  it  settles  from  the  surround- 
ing surfaces;  in  other  words,  it  drains  in  from 
higher  levels.  Very  well;  make  the  drainage 
more  complete.  Provide  one  spot  at  the  lowest 
point  so  much  lower  and  deeper  than  all  the  rest 
that  the  water  will  settle  only  in  it — and  make 
this  a  swamp  or  bog  garden.    Or  clear  and  exca- 


52  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

vate  still  more  and  turn  swamp  into  pool,  with 
a  stock  of  goldfish  or  commoner  kinds  as  mos- 
quito exterminators. 

In  this  connection  let  me  say  that  in  order  to 
insure  against  mosquito  breeding,  every  tiny 
little  water  pocket  among  the  grasses  and  the 
mud  at  the  margin  of  such  a  pool  or  pond  must 
be  opened  to  the  fish  and  kept  so;  and  all  over- 
hanging branches  of  trees  or  shrubs  must  be 
cleared  away  so  there  shall  be  no  deep  shadows 
which  they  will  avoid  and  so  miss  the  larvae. 
The  presence  of  mosquitoes  around  a  well 
stocked  pool  is  a  sure  indication  that  one  or  both 
of  these  requirements  have  not  been  met,  for  if 
the  larvae  are  where  the  fish  can  get  them,  they 
will  do  so.  It  is  only  when  the  fish  are  shut  off 
from  them  by  grasses  or  shadows  that  they  fail 
in  the  mission  assigned  them. 

The  effect  of  topography  upon  garden  design 
is  of  course  very  great.  Yet  design,  even  upon 
irregular  ground,  is  governed  in  a  general  sense 
by  the  same  considerations  which  affect  it  else- 
where, in  spite  of  the  great  measure  of  liberty 
which  it  must  have  in  order  to  conform  to  the 
ground's  undulations.  For  the  axes  are  quite 
as  important  whatever  the  contours,  and  the 
border,  framing  and  holding  all  together,  is  just 
as  necessary.    A  design  may  be  simple  too — 


GRADES,  LEVELS,  CONTOUBS  53 

even  though  it  does  not  stay  on  one  plane  all 
the  time.  But  to  work  out  a  plan  for  grounds  of 
irregular  surface,  the  irregularities  must  be  con- 
sulted and  set  down  upon  the  drawing;  other- 
wise the  plan  cannot  fit.  It  is,  therefore,  a  little 
less  simple  to  design  such  a  garden,  and  a  topo- 
graphical map  is  essential  as  a  basis  to  work 
upon,  if  any  great  irregularities  exist. 

This  is  getting  rather  too  deep  into  techni- 
calities possibly  for  the  average  amateur;  yet 
a  contour  map  is  a  very  simple  thing,  easy  to 
understand  and  easy  to  work  upon — and  not 
indeed  very  difficult  to  make,  although  I  shall 
not  ask  you  to  go  quite  as  far  as  that.  For  an 
engineer's  survey  should  be  made  of  land  that 
varies  enough  to  affect  house  and  garden  de- 
sign; then  all  the  work  can  be  planned  exactly. 
Such  a  survey  reckons  usually  from  a  level  pre- 
viously determined  by  the  general  survey  of  the 
town  or  county,  but  this  does  not  matter.  All 
that  matters  is  the  mark  of  the  lowest  level, 
which  will  be  the  lowest  figure  given,  whatever 
the  situation  may  be.  This  mark  may  be  0  or 
anything  else;  but  everything  that  is  not  on  its 
level  will  be  above  it. 

Contours  at  one  foot  ascend  from  this  lowest 
plane  a  foot  at  a  time;  that  is,  imagining  the 
land  under  survey  to  be  submitted  to  an  inun- 


54  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

dation,  every  rise  of  one  foot  in  the  waters  shows 
a  water  mark  on  hills  and  knolls  that  is  at  ex- 
actly the  same  level  everywhere,  all  the  way 
around.  The  wavy,  irregular  contour  line  on  a 
topographical  map  represents  the  plan  of  such 
a  water  mark;  and  each  one  foot  rise  narrows 
the  remaining  portions  of  dry  land  and  widens 
the  spread  of  the  (imaginary)  waters,  until  at 
last  only  little  islands  remain  here  and  there, 
whose  topmost  heights  are  something  less  than 
a  foot  above  the  last  rise.  Obviously,  where  a 
slope  is  very  steep  the  contour  lines  fall  very 
close  together  when  seen  from  above;  where  it 
is  gradual,  they  widen  out. 

Working  on  such  a  plan  of  the  ground  itself, 
the  plans  for  the  house  and  for  the  garden  may 
be  adjusted  perfectly;  terrace  levels  may  be 
calculated  and  terrace  outlines  fixed  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  every  gradation  and  variation.  And 
though  there  is  always  of  necessity  a  certain 
measure  of  excavating  and  reestablishing  of  dis- 
turbed earth  coincident  with  building,  and  some 
grading  is  imperative,  these  are  reduced  to  the 
minimum  through  the  exact  adjustment  and 
calculation  possible.  Moreover,  the  form  and 
size  of  garden  divisions  depend  so  greatly  upon 
varying  levels,  where  these  exist,  that  it  is  really 
impossible  to  plan  without  them. 


GRADES,  LEVELS,  CONTOURS         55 

Land  that  is  uneven  of  surface  is  more  often 
found  clothed  with  scrub  trees  and  undergrowth 
than  the  commoner  level  and  conventional  plot, 
probably  because  the  cleared  meadows  of  farm 
lands  which  are  the  first  offerings  of  the  coun- 
try to  the  suburb,  were  usually  their  level  por- 
tions, I  suppose,  while  the  hillsides  were  left  un- 
cultivated. And  in  this  natural  growth  there  is 
another  valuable  suggestion  for  the  garden,  as 
well  as  an  actual  beginning  sometimes.  For 
even  the  most  unpromising  specimens  already 
established,  if  given  proper  care  and  attention, 
have  an  advantage  over  trees  and  shrubs  that 
are  introduced. 

Preservation  of  such  growth,  however,  is  only 
accomplished  by  the  preservation  of  the  grades 
whereon  it  is  fixed,  for  the  surface  levels  above 
the  roots  of  trees  cannot  be  appreciably  changed 
without  great  risk  to  the  trees — a  risk  varying 
somewhat  according  to  the  varieties  represented 
and  the  amount  of  the  change  in  level,  to  be 
sure,  but  always  present  nevertheless.  Six  inches 
of  soil  added  or  six  inches  removed  may  very 
easily  prove  fatal,  while  less  is  often  the  occa- 
sion of  a  severe  set-back  or  general  decline  from 
which  they  recover  very  slowly  and  perhaps 
never  completely.  This  is  because  roots  grow 
at  the  depth  which  insures  them  the  right  de- 


56  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

gree  of  moisture,  of  warmth,  and  of  air,  and  any 
change  in  this  depth  seriously  affects  all  three. 
The  removal  of  even  a  small  amount  of  earth 
allows  the  sun  to  bake  them  as  well  as  to  draw 
away  the  precious  moisture  from  them.  And 
of  course  it  increases  the  air  supply  as  well — 
dangerously. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  addition  of  earth 
shuts  this  off,  smothering  them;  and  it  upsets, 
too,  the  moisture  and  warmth  equilibrium  which 
is  so  carefully  and  nicely  adjusted.  So  if  trees 
are  to  be  preserved  they  must  be  allowed  their 
places  undisturbed.  No  change  of  more  than 
two  inches  either  way  should  be  made  in  the 
ground  around  them  within  the  space  covered 
by  the  full  spread  of  their'  branches,  which  is 
the  space  occupied  by  the  spread  of  their  roots 
— and  even  this  is  not  desirable. 

I  have  spoken  almost  entirely  of  grading  and 
grade  treatment  on  irregular  ground  because 
ground  of  this  character  naturally  demands 
more  attention  than  ground  which  is  level.  But 
there  are  one  or  two  interesting  possibilities  on 
even  the  level  tract  or  plot  that  are  all  too  sel- 
dom realized.  One  of  these  is  the  terrace  as 
shown  in  the  first  design,  page  30,  another  is 
the  terrace  in  the  rear  of  the  house,  page  34. 

There  is  always  a  measure  of  earth  to  be  dis- 


GRADES,  LEVELS,  CONTOURS         57 

posed  of  when  a  cellar  is  excavated.  Com- 
monly this  is  hauled  away  from  the  place  that 
does  not  require  filling  to  bring  it  to  the  cus- 
tomary dead  level;  and  this  sometimes,  if  not 
usually,  is  done  at  some  expense.  A  terrace 
effectually  makes  use  of  this  instead — and  varies 
the  uninteresting  dead  level  most  agreeably 
into  the  bargain.  Moreover  it  affords  a  vantage 
point  from  which  to  look  beyond  the  boundary 
planting,  just  as  did  the  ancient  mount  within 
the  mediaeval  walled  garden.  And  the  terrace 
approach  to  the  house  is  of  all  treatments  the 
most  effective,  especially  if  for  any  reason  it  is 
necessary  or  desirable  to  set  a  house  high  above 
the  ground. 

The  ramped  walk  is  a  pleasant  feature  alto- 
gether too  little  known  and  adopted  on  the 
small  place,  yet  really  possible  anywhere.  Why 
this  graceful  slope  does  not  more  often  take  the 
place  of  the"  steps  which  we  so  laboriously  build 
and  climb  I  cannot  imagine,  unless  it  be  because 
the  idea  is  generally  unknown.  Excepting  at 
the  main  and  formal  entrance  from  the  street  to 
the  house,  this  ascent  is  everywhere  appropriate; 
its  suggestion  of  intimacy  and  ease,  however, 
bars  it  from  the  entrance  at  which  strangers  ap- 
proach. It  should  never  be  carried  out  in  stone 
or  cement  or  any  artificial  medium;  but  in  the 


58  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

garden,  where  gravel  or  grass  walks — preferably 
the  latter — are  possible,  any  rise  where  steps 
ordinarily  lead  from  one  level  to  the  other  af- 
fords an  opportunity  for  a  ramp. 

A  grade  of  from  thirty  to  thirty-five  or  -six 
per  cent,  is  the  best,  this  being  comfortable  of 
ascent  and  easily  established  and  preserved. 
That  is,  there  should  be  an  advance  horizon- 
tally of  three  feet  or  thereabout  for  every  foot 
of  rise.  And  although  this  takes  up  more  space 
than  steps  in  order  to  reach  a  given  height,  it 
is  space  that  can  usually  be  spared  without  ap- 
preciable disadvantage.  Sometimes  lawn  the 
entire  width  of  a  porch  may  effectively  be 
ramped  up  to  the  porch  floor  level  and  the  porch 
steps  eliminated  altogether.  Opportunities  for 
charming  and  interesting  effects  will  suggest 
themselves,  if  this  idea  is  given  some  attention 
and  its  possibilities  allowed  to  develop  easily, 
without  being  overdone. 

When  grading  or  terracing  is  to  be  done  any- 
where, go  about  it  in  the  right  way  by  removing 
the  top  soil  first  to  a  depth  of  from  six  to  eight 
inches — more  if  this  soil  is  deeper;  the  color  will 
tell  you — over  the  entire  area  to  be  excavated, 
and  also  over  the  area  which  is  to  be  terraced  or 
ramped  or  altered  in  any  way.  Put  tliis  in  a 
convenient  place  where  it  will  not  interfere  with 


GRADES,  LEVELS,  CONTOURS         59 

building  and  grading  operations,  but  will  be  ac- 
cessible when  wanted.  Then  do  the  work  of 
grading  everj^where,  bringing  all  levels  to  with- 
in six  inches  of  their  proposed  finished  sur- 
face. When  all  this  is  done  restore  the  top  soil 
to  the  top,  spreading  it  evenly  and  a  little  deeper 
than  the  six  inches  allowed  over  those  areas 
which  have  been  built  up,  as  these  will  settle. 

I  would  advise  retaining  walls  of  stone  or 
brick  invariably  instead  of  sloping  grassed  ter- 
races, both  for  their  greater  permanence  and  for 
their  superior  merit  artistically  and  practically. 
A  garden  of  the  before  mentioned  vertical  char- 
acter may  be  broken,  by  means  of  such  walls, 
into  levels  that  provide  as  much  room  for  vege- 
tables and  flowers  as  any  flat  tract  of  the  same 
area;  and  at  the  same  time  the  walls  themselves 
furnish  space  for  a  quantity  of  fruit — much  more 
of  course  than  the  single  wall  surrounding  the 
garden  on  a  level  site  affords. 


".  .  .  .  A  garden  circummur'd  with  brick, 
Whose  western  side  is  with  a  vineyard  back'd; 
And  to  that  vineyard  is  a  planched  gate — " 

— Measure  for  Measure. 

CHAPTER  V 

Boundary  Treatments 

THERE  are  three  distinct  forms  of  defense  pos- 
sible— the  fence,  the  wall,  and  the  hedge. 
And  of  each  of  these  there  are  several  types;  so 
that  something  suitable  to  every  type  of  house 
as  well  as  to  every  kind  of  situation  may  be 
found.  To  choose  just  any  sort  of  thing  that 
will  keep  out  the  intruding  elements  alien  to  the 
perfect  garden  is  therefore  not  necessary — and 
is,  further,  not  excusable.  For  harmony  is  as 
important  between  house  and  grounds  and 
boundary  treatment  as  it  is  between  house  and 
grounds.  A  place  which  may  be  delightful  when 
inclosed  with  simple  palings  or  a  hedge  may  be 
altogether  overdone  if  a  wall  of  brick  or  stone 
defines  its  limits  and  protects  its  interior.  Do 
not  regard  time  spent  in  examining  into  the 
claims  of  the  various  features  which  may  be 
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BOUNDARY  TREATMENTS  61 

chosen  for  the  boundary,  therefore,  as  time 
wasted;  analyze  each  from  every  point  of  view, 
and  do  not  settle  upon  anything  without  know- 
ing that  it  is  the  best  thing  for  the  place  in 
question. 

Further,  let  me  say  that  whatever  is  being 
considered  let  it  always  be  regarded  as  a  pro- 
tective barrier  and  never  be  regarded  as  an  orna- 
ment, in  itself.  Ornamental  a  well-designed  and 
well-built  fence  or  wall,  or  well-kept  hedge,  as- 
suredly may  be  and  will  be;  but  it  is  never  for 
the  purpose  of  ornamenting  that  it  is  built — and 
for  an  outer  boundary  especially  the  quality  of 
unobtrusiveness  is  the  one  to  court.  Within  a 
garden  of  a  certain  type,  treillage  and  elaborate 
latticework  and  fencing  are  appropriate,  but 
this  sort  of  thing  should  never  be  used  to  separ- 
ate private  ground  from  the  highway  or  from 
adjoining  lands.  Whatever  is  ultimately  dis- 
covered to  be  the  proper  boundary  treatment  to 
harmotiize  with  the  house  and  the  grounds  in  a 
given  environment,  therefore,  is  to  be  designed 
finally  with  a  view  to  keeping  it  in  a  low  key  and 
never  to  attracting  attention  to  it  or  to  occa- 
sioning remark  at  its  striking  character. 

It  is  of  course  only  possible  to  generalize  in 
somewhat  broad  terms  with  regard  to  the  suit- 
ability of  the  various  kinds  of  boundary  treat- 


62  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

ment  to  different  styles  of  architecture  and  dif- 
ferent environment,  since  many  things  enter  in 
to  cause  exceptions,  now  and  then,  to  what  may 
seem  a  positive  rule.  But  as  a  beginning  it  is 
pretty  safe  to  say  that  the  hedge  is,  of  all  forms 
of  inclosure,  better  suited  to  the  average  non- 
descript place  than  anything  else,  because  it 
is,  in  itself,  a  compromise  between  the  definite 
elements  of  architecture  and  the  indefinite  qual- 
ties  of  nature. 

The  deciduous  hedge  has  this  about  it,  more- 
over, which  recommends  it;  it  insinuates  itself 
into  a  community  without  shocking  the  sensi- 
bilities of  even  the  most  conventional  adherent 
of  the  real-estate  style  of  landscape,  for  it  starts 
low  and  only  gradually  becomes  the  full-fledged 
barrier  that  it  is  proposed  to  maintain.  And 
while  it  is  growing  to  its  fullness  of  height  and 
breadth  and  effectiveness,  everyone  grows  ac- 
customed to  it  and  comes  to  accept  it  as  a 
matter  of  course;  whereas,  if  a  fence  had  been 
boldly  erected  it  would  have  seemed  a  piece  of 
impertinence  to  the  entire  neighborhood,  so  es- 
tablished are  most  neighborhoods  in  the  thought 
that  garden  seclusion  and  privacy  is  a  direct 
affront  to  neighborly  privilege. 

So  it  is  the  hedge  that  shall  have  first  place  in 
our  considerations — not,  be  it  understood,  be- 


BOUNDARY  TREATMENTS  63 

cause  I  accord  it  first  place  as  a  garden  bound- 
ary, by  any  means;  but  because  it  is  so  gener- 
ally useful  and  so  generally  possible.  It  requires, 
of  course,  to  make  it  wholly  effective  as  a  pro- 
tection, the  reinforcement  which  a  fence  alone 
will  give,  although  if  it  is  properly  established 
at  the  time  of  planting  and  properly  cared  for 
thereafter,  it  is  possible  to  develop  it  into  an 
impenetrable  mass  of  close-set  branches  right 
down  to  the  ground.  And  of  course  nothing 
short  of  this  approaches  the  true  ideal  for  a 
hedge. 

Perhaps  no  plant  has  ever  had  the  vogue  for 
hedge  purpose  which  the  California  privet  en- 
joys, and  no  plant  has  ever  more  deserved  its 
popularity.  It  is  not  because  it  is  cheap,  either, 
that  it  is  popular,  though  this  of  course  partly 
accounts  for  the  wide  use  of  it.  But  its  great 
adaptability  to  all  sorts  of  places  and  all  but  the 
extremely  cold  sections  of  the  country,  its  rapid 
growth,  and  the  beautiful  wall  of  living  green 
which  it  presents  when  rightly  attended,  play 
quite  as  large  a  part  in  its  popularity  as  its  low 
price.  And  even  when  it  is  killed  out  in  a  winter 
of  unusual  severity — as  much  of  it  was  during 
the  unprecedented  winter  of  1919-20 — it  comes 
again  from  its  roots,  if  cut  back  properly,  and 
renews  itself  within  an  astonishingly  short  time. 


64  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

The  plants  for  a  privet  hedge  should  be  pref- 
erably three-year-olds  at  least,  for  these  alone 
will  insure  plants  that  are  thick  and  well 
branched  at  the  ground — which  is  almost  the 
most  important  thing  about  a  plant  that  is  to 
go  into  a  hedge.  Set  them  nine  inches  apart, 
and  from  one  foot  to  two  feet  inside  the  actual 
boundary  line  of  the  property  they  are  to  in- 
close; and  set  them  deep  into  the  ground.  The 
simplest  way  to  go  about  the  work  is  to  have 
a  trench  dug  some  five  or  six  inches  deeper 
than  the  roots  of  the  plants;  on  to  the  bottom 
of  this  spread  well-rotted  manure,  then  sprinkle 
earth  enough  over  it  to  cover  it.  Then  set  the 
plants  along  in  the  trench,  putting  enough  earth 
over  the  roots  of  each  as  it  is  held  in  place,  to 
keep  it  there,  but  not  filling  in  the  trench  until 
all  are  set,  when  it  can  all  be  done  rapidly. 

When  the  planting  is  done,  cut  back  the 
plants  to  within  two  inches  of  the  ground — 
which,  by  the  way,  is  the  hardest  thing  about 
the  entire  proceeding  usually,  for  the  novice 
at  any  rate.  And  I  will  agree  that  to  cut  back 
a  perfectly  good  bush  that  is  perhaps  four  feet 
high  and  strong  and  well  branched,  until  noth- 
ing is  left  of  it  but  the  stumps  of  its  branches 
standing  just  above  the  surface  of  the  earth,  re- 
quires some  determination — and  possibly  more 


BOUNDARY  TREATMENTS  65 

faith.  It  is  the  only  right  way  to  make  a  right 
start,  however;  for  any  other  way  will  produce 
a  hedge  that  is  bare  and  weak  at  the  ground 
and  that  will,  moreover,  always  remain  so.  For 
it  is  only  just  below  the  point  of  pruning  that 
a  plant  sends  up  new  growth;  consequently  if 
it  is  pruned  high,  this  new  growth  will  be  high 
up,  whereas  if  it  is  pruned  close  to  the  ground 
the  new  growth  will  begin  at  the  ground — where 
it  must  be  in  order  to  produce  a  hedge  that  is 
dense  and  thick  from  bottom  to  top. 

Deciduous  hedges  should  be  sheared  annually 
at  least,  and  the  privet  usually  requires  shear- 
ing twice  during  the  summer  while  it  is  estab- 
lishing itself,  since  its  growth  is  rapid  and  it  is 
important  to  shape  it  carefully  during  its  early 
years.  And  of  its  shape  let  me  say  very  em- 
phatically that  it  must  always  be  narrower  at 
the  top  than  at  the  bottom,  if  it  is  to  maintain 
its  branches  down  to  the  ground  and  conform 
generally  to  the  ideal  set  for  it.  The  Gothic 
arch,  slightly  flattened  at  the  apex,  is  the  best 
form  possible,  though  the  sides  may  slope  in  on 
a  straight  line  from  bottom  to  top,  if  preferred. 

The  principle  involved  is  simple;  namely, 
that  the  growth  must  be  able  to  receive  light 
and  air  equally  all  the  way  to  the  bottom. 
Only  by  making  the  branches  above  shorter 


66  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

than  those  below  them,  is  it  possible  to  insure 
the  latter  their  proper  quota;  and  of  course 
this  results  in  the  in-sloping  sides.  A  secondary 
advantage  of  this  form  is  the  greater  strength 
of  the  hedge  mass  under  weight  of  snow  or  ice 
and  its  consequent  resistance;  for  snow  or  ice 
resting  upon  it  is  supported  by  practically  all 
of  its  branches  instead  of  by  only  the  top 
branches,  as  is  the  case  when  a  uniform  width 
is  preserved  and  the  top  is  flat. 

The  height  to  which  a  hedge  of  privet  may 
be  carried  is  limited  only  by  the  height  of  the 
shrub  when  left  to  its  own  devices;  as  this  is 
fifteen  feet  it  is  apparent  that  high  and  beauti- 
ful living  walls  are  possible  through  the  use  of 
this  variety.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  I 
would  not  advise  bringing  it  to  more  than  ten 
feet  or  even  eight,  unless  on  a  large  place  and 
under  exceptional  circumstances.  In  England 
an  upright  narrow  hedge  only  a  foot  in  width 
and  from  five  to  nine  feet  in  height  is  sometimes 
developed,  and  beautiful  things  they  are;  but 
we  have  always  to  remember  that  our  extremes 
of  heat  and  cold  make  it  difiicult  to  do  many 
things  in  America  that  English  gardeners  have 
no  trouble  with.  This  is  not  to  say,  however, 
that  walls  of  privet  of  this  height  and  width 
are  not  possible  here;    but  as  with  the  more 


BOUNDARY  TREATMENTS  67 

usual  hedge,  I  would  advise  tapering  them  from 
a  width  of  two  feet  at  least  at  the  bottom  to  a 
foot  at  the  top  and  leaving  the  top  rounded 
rather  than  flattened. 

In  the  early  days  of  gardening  here,  the  ar- 
borvitae  was  much  used  for  garden  hedges;  and 
it  is  as  good  to-day  as  it  was  then.  For  a  hedge 
of  evergreen,  indeed,  it  is  hardly  excelled,  and 
it  endures  shearing  perfectly.  But  its  shape 
naturally  is  such  that  not  a  great  deal  of  atten- 
tion is  needed  to  keep  it  in  the  desired  form, 
for  it  conforms  to  the  lines  of  the  Gothic  arch 
almost  without  touching  the  shears  to  it.  When 
used  as  a  hedge,  the  plants  should  be  set  not 
quite  their  width  apart,  whatever  size  they  may 
be.  This  will  insure  their  becoming  a  solid, 
dense  mass  as  they  grow.  Pruning  should  be 
directed  to  keeping  them  at  the  height  decided 
upon,  and  evenly  sloping  on  the  sides  of  the 
hedge. 

Prune  evergreen  hedges  in  June,  preferably, 
as  they  are  then  at  the  fullness  of  their  seasonal 
activity  and  will  not  suffer  from  the  operation, 
and  will  moreover  soon  clothe  themselves  with 
their  new  growth,  which  will  then  conform  to 
the  desired  lines.  Deciduous  pruning  or  shear- 
ing should  be  done  in  June  and  again,  if  neces- 
sary, in  August — the  latter  while  the  hedge  is 


68  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

being  formed.  After  this  the  midsummer  work 
will  ordinarily  be  enough. 

There  are  of  course  other  plants  available  for 
both  deciduous  and  evergreen  hedges,  but  I  pre- 
fer not  to  confuse  the  issue  by  dealing  with  them 
here.  Consideration  of  the  hedge  is  not  com- 
plete, however,  without  reference  to  the  use  of 
honeysuckle  or  actinidia  supported  by  ribbon 
wire  or  by  any  good  strong  wire  fencing.  Rib- 
bon wire  is  the  simplest  to  use,  for  it  requires 
only  fastening  to  the  posts  as  it  is  stretched, 
while  wire  fencing  requires  a  fence  stretcher  and 
considerable  work  to  erect  it  properly  and  per- 
manently. Furthermore,  it  is  doubtful  if  any 
wire  fencing  is  actually  permanent,  since  time 
does  make  inroads  upon  it  even  when  it  is 
painted  and  well  cared  for.  So  the  ribbon  wire, 
which  is  easily  renewed,  is  again  a  better  choice 
unless  absolute  impenetrability  is  desired. 

On  posts  set  eight  or  nine  feet  apart,  three 
rows  of  this  will  furnish  support  for  the  vines 
which  will,  in  a  very  short  time,  provide  a  fine 
and  dense  hedge — of  an  almost  evergreen 
character  if  of  the  honeysuckle,  for  it  holds  its 
leaves  throughout  the  winter  in  all  but  the  se- 
verest latitudes.  Set  the  plants  at  every  post 
and  two  between;  and  see  to  it  that,  as  they 
grow,  they  are  twined  on  to  the  wire  and  carried 


BOUNDARY  TREATMENTS  69 

up  as  fast  as  they  have  covered  the  lower  wires, 
to  the  top  one  and  along  this.  A  little  watching 
and  directing  will  rapidly  form  the  growing  mass 
into  almost  as  even  a  hedge  as  one  of  sheared 
privet  or  arborvitse;  and  as  each  summer  adds 
the  twining  branches  of  its  growth  to  those  al- 
ready established,  such  a  hedge  will  thicken  and 
become  a  veritable  wall  of  green  which  may  be 
trimmed  enough  with  the  shears  to  prevent  its 
being  ragged. 

For  very  high  screens  or  boundary  planting 
on  large  plots  the  beech  tree  offers  wonderful 
possibilities,  holding  its  leaves  throughout  the 
winter  as  it  does  and  adapting  itself  perfectly 
to  severe  shearing  and  shaping.  And  as  it 
may  be  maintained  at  a  width  of  perhaps  only 
four  or  five  feet  when  its  height  is  twenty  or 
more,  its  usefulness  as  a  screen  on  a  place  of 
limited  size  is  apparent;  for  it  takes  up  actu- 
ally very  little  room. 

Second  only  to  the  hedge  in  general  suitability 
and  usefulness  is  the  wood  fence  of  one  kind  or 
another,  built  in  a  manner  to  conform  with  the 
style  and  the  character  of  the  house  beyond  it. 
There  are  of  course  many  fashions  for  this, 
ranging  all  the  way  from  the  solid  deal  or  plain 
board  fence  of  the  city  or  large  town  back- 
yard to  the  palings  or  picket  fence  of  the  trim 


70  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

New  England  village;  but  when  anything  apart 
from  the  simplest  design  is  approached,  beware ! 
Not  that  real  variation  in  design  may  not  be 
considered,  but  that  the  unusual  is,  as  I  have 
already  warned,  not  to  be  selected  if,  by  such 
selection,  attention  will  be  drawn  to  the  fence 
before  anything  else  is  noted. 

As  a  general  rule  there  is  a  fence  suited  to 
practically  every  house  that  is  really  architec- 
turally good,  even  in  the  humblest  way;  but 
further  to  generalize,  I  may  say  that  the  picket 
fence,  or  palings,  seems  naturally  to  take  its 
place  before  the  modest  house  of  discreet  and 
unpretentious  Colonial  type,  while  the  post-and- 
rail  fence  demands  a  rather  more  spacious,  wide- 
spreading  dwelling  of  somewhat  the  same  char- 
acter. One  is,  in  other  words,  essentially  the 
town  or  village  type,  the  other  more  especially 
the  farmstead  type;  and  it  is  well  to  try  and  use 
them  accordingly.  But  this  is  not  to  say  that 
there  may  not  be  places  in  the  close  confines  of 
a  town  where  the  latter  will  produce  a  better 
effect  than  the  former — as  for  example  before  a 
house  standing  high  up  on  an  eminence  rising 
directly  from  the  street.  In  such  a  case,  how- 
ever, the  eminence  itself  becomes  in  part  the 
barrier  shutting  off  the  highway;  and  the 
fence  topping  it  does  not  need  to  be  of  the 


BOUNDARY  TREATMENTS  71 

close-set  type  in  order  to  make  the  setting  apart 
complete. 

Which  prompts  me  to  observe  that  it  is  after 
all  something  of  a  psychological  problem,  this 
whole  matter  of  boundary  barriers,  as  well  as  a 
problem  of  actual  protection.  For  it  is  neces- 
sary to  seem  protected  as  well  as  to  be  protected 
— but  not  to  establish  a  sense  of  fortification  in 
doing  this,  since  after  all  it  is  only  against  peace- 
ful invasion  that  defense  is  being  established. 
To  do  enough  without  doing  more  than  enough 
is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  real  concern,  and  re- 
straint is  very  necessary  in  the  small  garden. 

Of  high  and  latticed  ornamental  fences  it 
may  be  said  that  their  function  as  screens  is 
perfectly  legitimate  and  their  use  is  to  be  en- 
couraged if  circumstances  demand  them;  but 
this  is  rarely  on  the  street  side  of  a  dwelling, 
since  on  this  side  none  of  the  actual  garden 
features  that  invite  to  intimate  use  and  com- 
panionship will  be  located.  And  there  is  an 
element  of  the  bizarre  in  a  fence  of  this  char- 
acter which  strikes  the  beholder  more  forcibly 
than  we  desire.  They  are  dramatic — or  even 
melodramatic — and  that  is  the  thing  we  are 
avoiding. 

If  a  street  exposure  must  be  inclosed  with  a 
high  fence  for  one  reason  or  another,  a  better 


72  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

selection  than  lattice  topping  therefore  is  a  solid 
structure  of  the  simplest  lines,  capped  with 
substantial  coping  and  simply  paneled,  if  de- 
sired, the  whole  painted  in  conformity  with  the 
house.  In  other  words,  duplicate  the  eJBFect  of 
a  wall,  frankly;  and  do  nothing  to  call  special 
attention  to  it.  Such  a  fence,  with  a  gateway 
admitting  a  vista  within,  or  a  doorway  through 
it,  if  its  height  is  sufficient  for  this,  possesses 
the  qualities  of  dignity  and  permanence  and 
serious  intent  which  instinctively  are  felt  to  be 
seemly  in  the  public  aspect  of  a  home. 

Walls  of  brick  or  stone  or  plaster  are  of 
course  desirable  above  all  else,  providing  house 
and  grounds  generally  are  in  keeping;  but  never 
resort  to  a  wall  on  any  sort  of  place  unless  it 
can  be  a  continuation  of  one  of  the  house  walls 
and  thus  come  into  existence  naturally  and 
logically.  This  presupposes  a  house  of  masonry, 
usually;  yet  not  invariably,  inasmuch  as  a  wall 
of  stone  or  brick  or  even  of  plaster  may  per- 
fectly well  continue  from  a  house  foundation 
wall  of  the  same  material,  and  thus  preserve 
unity  with  the  house,  though  the  latter  is  itself 
built  of  wood. 

For  the  city  garden  nothing  can  equal  the 
effect  obtained  by  a  continuance  of  the  house 
walls  in  this  way,  as  we  need  go  no  farther  than 


BOUNDARY  TREATMENTS  73 

some  of  our  own  old  Southern  cities  to  discover. 
In  very  crowded  cities,  indeed,  such  a  wall  be- 
comes the  larger  part  of  the  garden,  since  only 
a  tew  kinds  of  plants  will  live  in  the  atmosphere, 
and  wall  tiles,  recessed  bits  sheltering  sculp- 
ture, wall  fountains  and  seats  must  provide  the 
color,  interest,  and  beauty  usually  furnished  by 
them. 

Variation  in  the  height  of  a  wall  wherever 
there  is  a  real  reason  for  it — that  is,  at  a  point 
where  the  contour  of  the  land  or  where  a  turn, 
or  a  junction  with  some  different  section  of  the 
garden,  or  some  other  element  of  change  makes 
it  logical — is  pleasing  usually,  and  sometimes  is 
almost  necessary;  especially  is  this  felt  when  a 
wall  entirely  surrounds  the  grounds.  One  break 
alone  will  suffice,  many  times;  or  even  the  vari- 
ation that  comes  of  a  gateway.  But  this  much 
at  least  is  needed  to  avoid  monotony  and  the 
sense  of  grim  (overdone)  defense.  To  extend  a 
wall  some  distance  from  the  house  at  a  consid- 
erable height  and  then  to  decrease  this  height 
is  one  way  of  achieving  the  necessary  variation. 

Of  course  a  study  of  good  examples  is  just 
as  essential  to  intelligent  and  discriminating 
selection  when  it  is  a  wall  for  the  garden  that 
is  under  consideration  as  when  it  is  the  house 
itself.    So  without  regard  to  preconceived  ideas 


74  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

or  prejudices,  go  carefully  over  as  many  books 
of  good  architecture,  both  landscape  and  build- 
ing, as  it  is  possible  to  lay  hands  on,  before  de- 
ciding on  any  features  that  must  be  designed 
and  built.  No  one  can  know  how  limited  his 
knowledge  is  until  he  seeks  thus  to  broaden  it; 
and  certainly  not  until  it  has  been  broadened 
is  it  possible  to  exercise  taste  and  to  select  with 
full  appreciation  of  all  the  finer  points  involved. 
A  list  of  the  best  hedge  plants  for  different 
sections  of  the  country  is  appended.  Of  fence 
and  wall  materials  I  will  say  only  that  there  are 
two  things  to  avoid.  The  first  is  the  so-called 
ornamental  wire  fence,  the  second  is  the  con- 
crete block  wall — unless  it  is  plastered  and  the 
blocks  obliterated  completely.  As  a  foundation 
such  blocks  may  serve  but  never  as  the  final 
wall  surface.  And  as  to  the  wire  fencing,  unless 
it  is  used  as  the  support  of  such  a  vine  hedge  as 
I  have  earlier  mentioned,  it  fails  altogether  to 
give  any  sense  of  inclosure,  since  it  allows  all 
the  world  to  look  in,  if  not  to  enter.  And  it 
cannot,  by  the  wildest  stretch  of  the  imagina- 
tion, be  regarded  as  beautiful  in  and  by  itself; 
apart  from  pure  utility,  therefore,  there  can  be 
no  reason  for  using  it.  And  there  can  be  no 
reason  whatsoever  for  using  rails  of  gaspipe  or 
chains  swung  through  iron  posts,  since  these 


BOUNDARY  TREATMENTS  75 

are  neither  good  to  look  at  nor  good  for  any- 
thing as  an  inclosure! 

Hedge  Material 
The  Northern  States: 

Common  privet Ligiistrum  vulgare 

Amoor  privet Ligustrum  amurense 

Russian  olive Eleagnus  argentea 

Arborvitse Thuya  occidentalis 

The  Middle  States: 

California  privet Ligustrum  ovalifolium 

Box-leaved  barberry.  .  .Berheris  huxifolia 

Japanese  yew Taxu^  cusjpidata 

Arborvitse Thuya  occidentalis 

The  Southern  States: 

Evergreen  privet Ligustrum  lucidum 

Tree  box Buxus  sempervirens 

English  holly Ilex  aquifolium 

Abelia Ahelia  grandiflora 

Vines  as  Substitutes 

Hall's  honeysuckle  . .  .  .Lonicera  Japonica,  Halliana 
Actinidia Actinidia  arguta 


"No  line  or  compass  traced  its  plan; 
With  frequent  bends  to  left  or  right 
In  aimless,  wayward  curves  it  ran 
But  always  kept  the  door  in  sight." 

— Tlie  Crooked  Footbath. — Holmes. 

CHAPTER  VI 

Walks,  Paths  and  Garden  Entrances 

THE  value  of  first  impressions  is  too  well 
established  to  need  expounding,  so  if  I 
merely  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  here  we 
have  the  feature  responsible  for  the  first  im- 
pressions of  a  garden,  the  importance  of  walks 
and  entrances  will  not  call  for  further  emphasis. 
Responsible  in  many  ways  too  are  these  walks, 
paths,  and  entrances;  through  the  material  of 
which  they  are  constructed  they  make  one  sort 
of  impression,  through  their  form  another,  and 
by  reason  of  what  architects  call  their  scale 
still  another. 

Material  has  been  mentioned  first  because  it 
is,  in  one  way,  the  most  obvious  thing,  more 
glaring  when  badly  chosen,  contributing  in  a 
larger  degree  to  a  pleasant  effect  when  well 

76 


WALKS,  PATHS,  ENTRANCES  77 

chosen.  But  the  obviousness  of  material  should 
by  no  means  detract  from  a  realization  of  the 
importance  of  a  walk's  form  or  line  of  direction 
and  its  scale — although  I  personally  feel  that  a 
walk  or  path  or  even  an  entrance  gateway  may 
be  more  comfortably  tolerated  when  its  design 
and  scale  are  altogether  failures  but  its  material 
suitable  and  harmonious,  than  when  a  very  ex- 
cellent design  or  plan  is  executed  in  the  wrong 
substance  and  thus  thrown  distressingly  out  of 
scale. 

Material  and  scale — otherwise  proportion — 
affect  each  other  so  intimately  that  they  can- 
not, as  a  matter  of  fact,  be  considered  as  things 
apart;  indeed,  scale  in  one  sense  is  altogether 
dependent  on  material.  For  example,  a  grano- 
lithic walk  leading  to  the  door  of  a  shingled  cot- 
tage is  out  of  scale  even  though  its  width  be 
kept  down  to  the  minimum,  whereas  a  most 
generous  walk  of  gravel  or  even  of  bricks,  loosely 
laid,  would  not  be,  owing  of  course  to  the  greater 
harmony  of  material. 

Sidewalks  of  cement  along  the  highway  are 
unquestionably  superior  to  any  others,  but  with- 
in the  garden — which  means  within  the  bound- 
aries of  the  plot,  remember — they  are  in  nearly 
all  cases  quite  hopeless.  Indeed  I  cannot  recall 
a  single  exception.    There  is  something  so  grimly 


78  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

uncompromising  about  cement,  so  public-seem- 
ing— and  so  ugly  when  brought  Into  close  rela- 
tion with  grass  and  flowers  and  the  garden  gen- 
erally— that  it  puts  a  blight  upon  beauty,  how- 
ever bravely  one  may  seek  to  neutralize  it. 
Only  by  toning  it  down  with  a  gravel  space  from 
eight  to  twelve  inches  wide  on  either  side  is  it 
possible  to  qualify  its  glaring,  garish,  utilitarian 
unpleasantness  suflSciently  to  make  it  anything 
but  an  offense  anywhere  within  private  grounds. 
And  even  with  this  modification  it  should  never 
be  used  except  for  a  main  entrance,  which  is  al- 
ways conceded  to  be  semipublic  in  its  character. 

The  material  par  excellence  for  interior  walks 
is  brick,  laid  on  a  bed  of  sand,  this  on  a  bed  of 
cinders.  The  old-time  natural  flagstones  are 
next  in  choice  to  the  bricks,  while  gravel,  prop- 
erly laid,  always  makes  a  walk  little  inferior  to 
any.  This  latter  must  be  carefully  railed  in, 
however,  as  old  garden  beds  were  railed,  to  pre- 
vent its  scattering  into  the  turf  along  its  mar- 
gins; or  else  the  turf  must  stand  well  above  it. 
The  latter  is  a  more  pleasing  measure  to  insure 
the  confinement  of  the  gravel,  perhaps,  and 
quite  as  effective  if  the  walk  itself  is  well 
crowned  and  good  drainage  at  either  side  is 
provided. 

Across  and  through  the  garden,  especially  if 


WALKS,  PATHS,  ENTRANCES  79 

it  be  small,  there  is  nothing  so  pleasing  to  the 
eye  and  so  generally  a  jSnish  and  ornament  to 
the  design  as  walks  of  close-cut  turf.  That  they 
are  wet  after  rain  there  is  no  denying;  but  so 
too  are  walks  of  other  kinds,  and  most  other 
things  as  well.  The  morning  dew  leaves  them 
reluctantly,  some  object,  which  must  be  granted. 
But  to  my  mind  neither  of  these  complaints — 
nor  both  of  them  together — voices  a  sufficient 
reason  for  not  using  them.  However,  where 
they  seem  to,  stepping  stones  of  equal  size  and 
regular  form  may  be  sunk  into  the  turf  regularly 
and  the  effect  practically  unimpaired.  Indeed 
the  stones  themselves  are  charming,  bedded  in 
the  green,  and  may  prove  a  real  acquisition. 
They  should  be  regular  where  definite  and  regu- 
lar lines  prevail,  only  gardens  of  marked  infor- 
mality admitting  the  flat  stones  of  all  sorts  of 
shapes  and  sizes. 

The  arrangement  and  the  form  of  walks  and 
paths  are  of  course  of  the  greatest  consequence 
in  the  garden  design,  from  every  point  of  view. 
Naturally  prominent  because  of  what  they  are, 
and  bound  to  mark  divisions,  they  should  al- 
ways follow  leading  lines;  but  note,  please,  that 
this  does  not  mean  that  leading  lines  should  in- 
variably be  followed  by  a  walk  or  path.  Indeed 
it  is  better  to  err  on  the  side  of  restraint  in  the 


80  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

number  of  walks  rather  than  to  introduce  too 
many.  But  this  is  one  of  those  nice  Httle  mat- 
ters that  will  almost  settle  itself,  if  allowed  to 
do  so  without  forcing. 

For  a  walk  or  a  path  would  never  exist  if 
there  were  not,  earlier  than  it,  two  objects  from 
one  of  which  it  was  desired  to  pass  to  the  other. 
"Where  does  this  lead?"  is  the  instant  query 
whenever  and  wherever  a  path  meets  the  ram- 
bler; which  means  really  what  does  it  lead  to, 
what  lies  at  the  end?  Or  in  other  words,  why  is 
this  path?  Here  if  you  please,  is  the  whole  thing 
in  a  nutshell;  and  we  realize  at  once  that  there 
must  never  be  a  path  or  walk  in  the  garden  that 
has  no  reason — no  answer  to  that  why  and  to 
that  what.  It  may  or  it  may  not  go  straight 
to  its  objective  point — its  course  will  be  deter- 
mined by  circumstances — but  it  must  have  the 
objective;  and  it  will  work  always  toward  it. 

This  brings  us  to  a  phase  of  walk  layout  that 
has  always  been  to  me  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing— a  phase  which  I  do  not  find  often  recog- 
nized, even  by  those  who  have  studied  the 
matter.  I  can  give  it  no  better  name  than  the 
instinctive  direction — and  this  will  need  ex- 
plaining I  think.  It  is  just  what  the  name  sig- 
nifies; given,  for  example,  an  object  in  one  place 
to  be  approached  from  a  point  at  any  distance 


WALKS,  PATHS,  ENTRANCES  81 

from  it,  every  creature  making  the  trip  will 
choose,  without  stopping  to  think,  a  certain 
course — and  all  will  choose  practically  the  same 
course.  Naturally  we  should  expect  this  to  be 
the  most  direct,  all  creatures  being  constituted 
similarly  in  that  they  are  somewhat  averse  to 
unnecessary  effort;  hence  a  perfectly  straight 
line  between  the  two  places.  Actually,  how- 
ever, it  almost  never  happens  that  a  path  fol- 
lows a  perfectly  straight  line — for  which  there 
must  be  a  reason. 

Of  course  there  is;  and  equally  of  course — 
when  one  stops  to  think — it  is  a  reason  that  has 
its  basis  in  that  natural  indolence  just  noted, 
common  to  man  and  beast.  For  the  straight 
line  is  not  usually  the  easiest  way;  and  it  is  the 
easiest  way  that  is  followed,  even  though  this 
must  deviate  from  being  the  shortest  for  noth- 
ing more  consequential  than  an  ant  hill  or  a  rank 
tuft  of  grasses.  The  longer  distance  is  invari- 
ably less  objectionable  than  the  effort  to  sur- 
mount even  so  small  an  obstacle;  feet  instinc- 
tively seek  the  level. 

This  element  must  be  permitted  free  rein  in 
planning  walks,  even  in  formal  garden  design, 
if  they  are  to  provide  really  satisfying  strolls — 
and  this  is  of  course  the  ultimate  purpose  for 
which  such  walks  should  always  be  designed. 


82  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

Not  that  they  may  take  their  own  course  un- 
guided,  wherever  they  may  list,  by  any  means, 
but  for  their  guidance  the  instinctive  direction 
should  be  kept  in  mind,  and  the  conditions 
which  determine  it  should  be  provided,  where 
they  will  guide  along  the  line  predetermined  by 
the  designer.  Generally  spealdng,  walks  may 
be  put  wherever  they  are  desired;  then,  wher- 
ever this  may  be  and  whatever  their  direction, 
they  and  their  environment  must  be  so  con- 
trived as  to  make  that  direction  seem  instinctive. 

Planting  is  usually  enough  to  provide  all  the 
guide  to  direction  which  even  the  most  tortuous 
path  may  need;  and  of  course  large  garden 
beds,  devoted  to  vegetables  and  flowers,  them- 
selves offer  obstacles  around  which  clean  turns 
must  be  made  in  the  regularly  laid  out  garden. 

Walks  that  are  purely  utilitarian  need  not  be 
so  painstakingly  worked  out,  for  the  utilitarian 
walk  provides  its  own  reason  and  direction,  and 
that  is  all  there  is  to  it.  Well  proportioned  and 
of  suitable  material  they  certainly  should  be, 
though;  and  planted  and  ornamented  they  as 
certainly  may  be.  But  on  all  small  grounds 
their  direction  should  never  be  interfered  with, 
for  such  interference  wastes  precious  space. 

Take  for  instance  the  service  ways  in  the 
four  plans  given;    they  do  not  use  up  an  inch 


WALKS,  PATHS,  ENTRANCES  83 

unnecessarily,  but  go  direct  to  the  object  at 
which  they  are  aimed.  Moreover,  they  do  not 
give  access  to  the  grounds  generally,  any  more 
than  the  street  does;  and  the  scheme  makes 
them  almost  unseen  —  certainly  unrealized — • 
from  either  the  house  or  the  garden. 

Where  the  space  between  the  house  and  street 
is  kept  in  lawn,  it  is  an  advantage  usually  to 
carry  the  front  entrance  walk  also  in  at  the  side 
—for  lawn  space  should  be  undivided  wherever 
possible.  But  where  this  cannot  very  well  be 
done,  where  it  will  sacrifice  convenience  and 
directness  and  the  point  of  instinctive  entrance 
from  the  street,  this  walk  may  be  made  a  part 
of  the  general  design,  as  in  Plate  I,  page  30: 
thus  its  position  is  vindicated. 

This  point  of  entrance  from  the  street,  by  the 
way,  is  another  of  those  subtle  things  which  in- 
stinct must  govern — actual  instinct  in  this  case 
and  not  artificially  directed  instinct,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  walk.  For  no  trick  will  serve  to  fix 
this  point;  it  fixes  itself,  definitely  and  obsti- 
nately. The  direction  from  which  a  place  is 
approached  has  more  to  do  with  it  perhaps  than 
anything  else,  but  the  position  of  the  house 
entrance  complements  this;  so  really  it  takes 
the  two  in  combination  to  work  the  matter  out. 
Again  it  is  the  impulse  to  save  steps—the  lazy 


84  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

human  nature  in  us — that  is  at  the  bottom  of 
the  thing.  Here  we  must  let  this  impulse  do  its 
work  without  interference;  and  there  is  no  way  of 
doing  this  except  to  experiment,  on  the  ground. 

Given  the  house  location,  try  approaching  its 
entrance — its  porch  steps,  if  it  is  reached  by 
porch  steps — from  the  sidewalk,  from  both  di- 
rections. Try  it  a  great  many  times,  until  the 
turn  is  instinctive,  and  not  thought  about;  get 
others  to  try  without  their  knowing  it,  and  note 
the  point  where  the  majority  leave  the  sidewalk. 
There  may  be  two  such  points;  in  all  likelihood 
there  will  be,  if  the  two  directions  of  approach 
are  used — in  which  event  a  spot  midway  be- 
tween them  will  probably  be  the  right  place  for 
the  gate  and  the  start  of  the  entrance  walk. 
Yet  this  may  not  be  it  after  all,  possibly,  for  the 
point  indicated  by  those  coming  from  the  direc- 
tion whence  approach  will  most  commonly  be 
made,  as  from  trolley  or  station,  may  be  more 
true  to  the  situation.  Or  if  not  this  exact  spot, 
one  nearer  to  it  than  to  the  other,  rather  than 
midway  between. 

If  for  example  the  customary  approach  to  the 
place  in  Plate  I,  page  30,  is  from  the  left,  then 
no  excuse  that  could  possibly  be  invented  would 
serve  to  justify  an  entrance  walk  where  that 
plan  shows  it.    Nearer  to  the  left  boundary  than 


WALKS,  PATHS,  ENTRANCES  85 

to  the  right  it  would  have  to  be,  unless  it  solved 
the  difficulty  as  in  Plate  II,  page  34. 

Here,  then,  is  an  influence  from  outside  the 
garden  or  grounds  that  must  always  be  reck- 
oned with  in  planning  at  least  the  main  en- 
trance walk.  For  of  course  its  curves,  if  it  have 
them,  and  its  general  direction  will  be  deter- 
mined by  its  point  of  departure  from  the  side- 
walk. The  formula  of  the  general  rule,  so  far 
as  a  general  rule  may  be  formulated,  therefore 
is:  never  pass  the  house  entrance  to  reach  the 
entrance  to  the  grounds.  Supplement  this  by 
a  rule  to  go  as  directly  as  possible  from  gate 
to  front  door,  especially  on  small  grounds. 

Garden  entrances  themselves,  or  gates,  have 
even  greater  possibilities  as  regards  first  impres- 
sions than  walks.  Indeed  they  may  very  nearly 
make  or  mar  a  place,  as  far  as  its  street  aspect  is 
concerned,  for  they  have  a  capacity  for  express- 
ing very  accurately  the  qualities  which  lie  be- 
yond them;  curiously  enough,  they  seldom  err. 
I  have  never  found  an  inhospitable  gateway 
guarding  a  generous,  warm-blooded  man's  door- 
way; neither  have  I  ever  failed  to  find  the  sort 
of  person  I  have  learned  to  look  for  beyond  the 
arrogant,  the  mean,  the  splurging,  or  the  silly 
entrance.  So  let  us  look  well  to  our  home-por- 
tals; they  are  all-revealing. 


86  COME  INTO  THE  GABDEN 

But  first  of  all  let  us  make  sure  that  we  have 
them.  No  yawning  intermissions  in  fence  or 
hedge,  with  nothing  to  close  them,  will  do;  nei- 
ther will  fine  gateposts  and  gate,  with  no  wall  or 
hedge  through  which  they  admit.  Either  de- 
mands the  other;  and  the  garden  demands  both. 
Each  must  be  in  scale  with  the  other,  too — and 
with  the  house  and  the  place  generally  as  well, 
conforming  to  its  delicate  balance  quite  as  nicely 
as  the  walks. 

The  adjustment  of  scale  in  building  material, 
whatever  is  being  constructed,  is  so  largely  a 
matter  of  feeling,  however — of  an  extra  sense — 
that  I  hesitate  to  offer  advice  concerning  it.  If 
one  does  not  know,  through  this  sixth  sense,  that 
an  iron  fence  does  not  belong  around  a  plot  oc- 
cupied by  a  deep-eaved,  shingled  cottage;  that 
wire  fencing  is  out  of  scale  with  buildings  of 
masonry;  or  that  a  hedge  is  a  weak  retainer 
for  large  grounds  and  stone  buildings,  while  a 
dressed-stone  wall  overshadows  a  small  place 
and  takes  interest  from  wooden  buildings,  there 
is  little  to  be  gained  by  telling  him.  For  in 
some  other  direction  he  will  turn  aside  and  do 
the  wrong  thing,  it  being  impossible  to  foresee 
all  the  unfortunate  combinations  which  may 
arise — or  to  foresee  instances  when  the  combi- 
nation becomes  intolerable  that  would,  under 


WALKS,  PATHS,  ENTRANCES  87 

other  circumstances,  be  permissible.  Apply  the 
test  of  common  sense  and  reason,  however,  and 
rely  upon  its  guidance,  if  the  sense  of  propor- 
tion is  lacking.  It  will  keep  you  within  fair  lim- 
its either  way. 

Similarly  common  sense  will  prevent  the 
building  of  an  airy  lattice  arch  between  stone 
posts,  or  the  erection  of  clumsy  monstrosities  of 
birch  or  beech  saplings,  laboriously  put  together 
but  never  solid,  anywhere  but  in  the  wilderness; 
even  there  they  are  not  practical.  Arched 
gateways,  rightly  conceived  and  executed,  are 
charming,  without  a  doubt,  but  the  entire  place 
must  be  considered  and  its  character  must  de- 
termine whether  such  an  entrance  will  add  to 
or  detract  from  the  ensemble.  With  the  simple 
cottage  type  of  dwelling,  a  vine  or  rose  covered 
arch  entrance  is  a  delightful  and  appropriate 
feature,  but  with  a  formal  house  such  a  gateway 
is  too  ingenuous  and  childish  to  be  appropriate. 

The  stiffer  arch  of  living  green,  either  privet 
or  hemlock,  rising  from  an  inclosing  hedge  @f 
the  same,  is  better  suited  to  this  type,  with  a 
trim  paneled  gate  swinging  from  simple  posts 
beneath  it.  But  for  the  place  that  is  in  no 
sense  quaint  there  is  probably  greater  dignity 
and  appropriateness  in  the  uncovered  gateway 
than  in  any  sort  of  arched  opening.    It  is  the 


88  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

small  and  intimate  garden  that  needs  this  more 
distinctive  setting  apart,  especially. 

It  is  with  walks  and  gateways  as  with  so 
many  other  phases  of  constructive  garden  work, 
of  making  and  adorning;  the  one  great  obstacle 
to  our  accomplishing  the  best  results  always  is 
the  tendency  to  minimize  the  value  of  each 
seeming  small  feature.  Once  rid  of  the  idea 
that  anything  at  all  does  not  matter,  the  road 
to  progress  becomes  an  open  highway  along 
which  we  are  bound  to  move,  if  we  resolutely 
refuse  to  be  beguiled  from  it  this  way  or  that  by 
the  trifling,  the  unreasonable,  and  the  bizarre. 
These  are  the  pitfalls  of  the  unwary  and  un- 
discerning. 


"Tyme  passeth  and  speaketh  not, 
Deth  Cometh  and  warneth  not; 
Amende  today  and  slack  not, 
Tomorrow  thyself  cannot." 

— Old  Sundial  Motto. 

CHAPTER  VII 

Garden  Accessories  and  Ornaments 

WE  have  seen  that  the  walks  in  and  around 
a  garden  must  have  an  objective  point, 
must  lead  to  something;  and  obviously  that 
something  must  be  a  distinctive  feature,  strik- 
ing a  sharp  note  in  the  design  and  focusing  the 
attention  positively.  This  it  is  not  possible  for 
vegetation  alone  to  do;  no  specimen  of  tree, 
shrub,  or  flower,  however  superior  it  may  be  as 
a  specimen,  is  distinct  enough  from  all  the  rest, 
in  just  the  right  way,  to  provide  the  needed 
positive  element.  Hence  garden  accessories  in 
all  their  variations — the  casinos,  gazebos,  ar- 
bors, statues,  fountains,  columns,  or  whatever 
they  may  be,  of  use  or  ornament. 

In  this  briefly  outlined  purpose  of  these  gar- 
den attributes  lies  the  guide  to  their  positions. 
It  is  at  once  plain  that  no  reason  exists  for  put- 

89 


90  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

ting  an  urn,  a  statue,  or  anything  else  in  the 
midst  of  open  lawn.  No  argument  in  the  world 
can  justify  such  a  position  for  any  kind  of  ob- 
ject, any  more  than  it  can  justify  putting  a  sim- 
ilar object  in  the  midst  of  a  drawing-room  floor. 
Things  of  this  nature  are  to  adorn,  not  to  mon- 
opolize. True,  a  sculpture  of  merit  deserves  a 
setting  wherein  all  its  beauties  may  be  fittingly 
enjoyed;  but  such  a  work  demands  its  own 
gallery  or  alcove,  whether  it  be  outdoors  or  in, 
and  only  when  an  area  sufficient  to  provide 
this  is  available  should  an  image  or  group  of 
such  importance  be  used.  For  then  the  object 
itself,  not  the  garden,  is  the  feature;  the  latter, 
or  that  portion  of  it  immediately  about  a  great 
work  of  art,  is  secondary — an  effect  obviously 
to  be  avoided,  w^here  space  is  limited. 

Let  it  not  be  understood  that  I  am  arguing 
against  merit,  however,  in  garden  statuary  or 
ornament,  for  of  merit  there  can  never  be  too 
much  anywhere — certainly  not  in  the  garden. 
It  is  only  the  too  ambitious  conception  that 
should  be  barred  from  the  garden  which  it  will 
overtop  and  render  insignificant.  Neither  in 
actual  size  nor  in  the  idea  expressed  may  orna- 
ment ever  assume  greater  proportions  than  the 
thing  it  ornaments.  Be  sure  that  it  has  done 
this,  however,  whenever  it  conveys  the  stronger 


GARDEN  ACCESSORIES  91 

impression.  If  any  garden  accessory  sends  you 
away  with  the  thought  "So-and-so  has  a  fine 
statue — or  pool  or  garden  house — in  his  gar- 
den," instead  of,  "So-and-so's  garden  is  attrac- 
tive with  that  statue — or  pool  or  garden  house 
— where  it  is,"  be  sure  that  the  object  in  ques- 
tion is  either  ill  chosen  or  ill  placed. 

But  further  than  now  and  then  an  arbor  or 
summer  house  it  seems  difficult  for  us  to  pro- 
gress, in  all  except  the  great  gardens  designed 
and  executed  professionally — and  wearing  an  air 
too  often  of  professionalism.  And  of  course  an 
arbor  or  a  summer  house  is  something  of  an 
achievement,  in  limited  space;  so  more  often 
than  not  we  do  without  even  these.  Perhaps  it 
is  just  as  well  that  we  do  until  we  have  learned 
to  use  them,  for  certainly  they  are  senseless 
creations  unless  they  are  used.  So,  for  that 
matter,  is  a  garden,  too;  the  remedy  lies  not  in 
foregoing  to  make  a  garden,  however,  but  in 
learning  to  use  it. 

The  great  American  front-porch  habit  is 
largely  responsible  for  our  neglect  of  the  real 
outdoors,  I  believe,  but  a  certain  spirit  of  snatch- 
ing at  our  idling  rather  than  taking  it  deliber- 
ately may  be  at  the  bottom  of  this.  xAnd  then, 
of  course,  our  outdoor  retreats  have  never  been 
made  with  the  intention  of  actually  using  them, 


92  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

hence  they  do  not  invite  to  occupancy — to 
breakfast  on  pleasant  mornings  and  tea  on  sum- 
mery afternoons,  to  steamer  chair  naps  or  a  hot- 
day  forty  winks  on  a  cool  swinging  rush  couch. 
Magazines  and  books  do  not  find  their  way  to 
the  uncomfortable-looking  table  tops — and  in 
short  there  is  no  reason  for  idling  or  resting 
because  there  is  nothing  really  to  idle  with  or 
actually  to  rest  on.  All  these  things  are  on  the 
front  porch — or  indoors,  out  of  wind  and 
weather.  And  because  there  is  no  such  ren- 
dezvous in  the  garden  or  at  the  end  of  the 
garden  walk,  the  garden  itself  lies  alone  in  sun- 
light and  in  moonlight,  under  the  dew  and 
under  the  pale  mists  and  the  sweet,  cool  rain 
— and  not  one  thousandth  part  of  what  a  gar- 
den really  is  ever  comes  home  to  one  of  us. 

Casinos  and  summer  houses  let  us  have,  there- 
fore, by  all  means;  but  of  the  pergola,  beware! 
For  pergolas,  as  they  are  so  often  seen  and  made, 
are  just  another  instance  of  our  tendency  indis- 
criminately to  seize  upon  and  use — and  abuse 
— a  novelty.  The  pergola  in  itself  is  not  ob- 
jectionable, but  ignorant  use  has  made  it  so, 
and  worse — made  it  ridiculous.  Which  is  al- 
ways an  unfortunate  state  for  even  the  most  ad- 
mirable thing  to  reach. 

Properly  speaking  the  architectural  pergola  or 


Studiously  avoiding  the  conventional  this  garden  appro- 
priately entertains  the  unconventional  thatched  shelter  that 
would  not  be  in  harmony  with  less  casual  surroundings 


GARDEN  ACCESSORIES  93 

vine  arbor  is  a  transition  from  the  house,  out 
into  the  pergola  or  vine  arbor  that  is  not  archi- 
tectural, or  out  into  less  architectural  regions 
generally.  Pergola,  be  it  noted,  means  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  "vine  arbor";  it  is  our  own 
false  conception  of  the  term  that  applies  it  only 
to  the  timber  and  heavy  column  structure  which 
has  found  its  detached  way  into  gardens  and 
succeeded  generally  in  getting  where  it  does  not 
belong.  Away  out  of  doors  and  apart  from 
dwellings  there  should  be  no  architectural  per- 
golas; here  genuinely  roofed  structures  are  in 
order,  or  else  the  simplest  arbors.  Only  at- 
tached to  the  dwelling,  not  merely  against  it 
but  leading  from  it,  may  architectural  pergolas 
be  properly  introduced. 

Many  gardens  or  garden  sites  which  are  too 
small  to  admit  a  garden  house  or  casino  suffi- 
ciently apart  from  the  dwelling  to  be  worth 
while  may  yet  afford  space  for  this  proper  use 
of  the  pergola.  Where  this  is  too  ambitious  for 
the  type  of  house  and  the  grounds  generally, 
however,  a  seat  under  a  tree  is  always  possible 
— or  under  a  bower  of  vines — with  an  outdoor 
table  to  keep  it  company.  This  much  at  least 
should  never  be  omitted  from  any  garden — and 
may  be  repeated  as  often,  within  the  bounds  of 
reason,  as  space  admits  or  fancy  dictates,  to 


94  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

provide  the  greatest  amount  of  encouragement 
possible  to  the  cultivation  of  the  out-of-doors 
habit — and  the  greatest  amount  of  help  in 
breaking  up  the  front-porch  habit.  Seats  in 
the  form  of  a  semicircle  are  especially  agree- 
able for  groups,  or  if  these  are  beyond  the  pos- 
sibilities, in  the  form  of  a  square  open  at  the 
side.  Either  is  good,  for  either  brings  the  occu- 
pants somewhat  face  to  face;  thus  they  are  con- 
ducive to  use  because  they  are  conducive  to 
conversation. 

Comfort  and  use  should  be  consulted  pri- 
marily in  the  construction  of  both  arbors  and 
seats.  None  of  the  narrow,  rail-bottom,  rail- 
back,  unpleasant  affairs  so  generally  found  in 
the  latter  should  ever  be  given  any  position 
whatsoever.  Firm  balance,  a  smooth  seat,  and 
an  easy,  smooth  reclining  surface  for  a  back  are 
essential — and  all  three  are  perfectly  simple  to 
attain  without  sacrificing  the  picturesque  in  the 
least. 

With  the  loitering  places  and  the  living  spots 
of  the  outdoors  provided,  lesser  accessories  make 
their  claim.  Named  in  the  order  of  their  interest 
I  consider  them  to  be:  first,  the  bird  bath,  either 
a  pool  or  elevated  basin  or  a  very  simple  foun- 
tain, if  circumstances  permit  its  being  kept  in 
play;   second,  the  sundial;   third,  the  statue  or 


GARDEN  ACCESSORIES  95 

Herm;  fourth,  the  column  or,  under  conditions 
where  it  may  be  suitable,  the  stone  lantern  of 
Japanese  extraction,  or  some  similar  object. 
Arches  I  have  purposely  omitted  for  reasons 
which  will  develop  later;  and  bird  houses  find 
their  positions  in  trees  or  atop  of  posts  inciden- 
tally and  not  as  special  objects  of  consideration. 

If  I  could  have  nothing  else  in  my  own  garden, 
I  most  certainly  should  have  the  bathing  and 
drinking  place  for  birds.  And  the  tiniest  garden 
imaginable  need  not  be  without  it — this  of 
course  assuming  that  there  are  no  cats  to  turn 
its  delightful  comedy  into  tragedy.  Puss  is  an 
adorable  creature;  still  she  is  a  feline,  and  we 
have  no  right  to  lure  songbirds  into  her  zone. 
Where  there  is  a  doubt  concerning  this  very  im- 
portant point,  therefore,  the  bath  must  be  ele- 
vated and  guarded  by  a  wire  or  sheet-metal 
shield  extending  from  beneath  it,  out  around  it 
at  least  two  feet  on  every  side,  and  inclined 
slightly  up.  This  must  of  course  have  no  outer 
supports  up  which  a  cat  might  climb,  but  should 
either  be  stiff  enough  to  support  itself  or  else 
mounted  on  a  frame  purposely  made  for  it.  And 
the  bath  should  be  placed  in  the  open,  with  no 
possible  vantage  point  near  enough  for  a  jump 
to  be  made  clear  of  this  shield,  or  from  above. 

Where  cats  abound,  the  basin  on  the  wall 


96  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

needs  protection  from  above  as  well  as  from 
below,  but  such  protection  is  easily  given  by  a 
canopy  similar  to  the  underneath  shield.  Both 
may  be  dressed  with  vines  if  the  ground  is  kept 
open  below  and  no  communication  between  it 
and  the  basin  established.  Unless  these  condi- 
tions can  all  be  complied  with,  however,  elimi- 
nate this  feature  altogether.  It  will  be  a  verit- 
able death  trap  until  the  birds  learn  their  peril 
and  abandon  it — and  then  its  reason  for  being 
at  all  is  of  course  gone. 

Many  kinds  of  receptacles  are  offered  or  may 
be  secured  for  the  basin  itself;  and  ingenuity 
and  imagination  will  undoubtedly  suggest  others 
that  no  one  has  ever  heard  of.  Anything  from 
a  soup  plate  to  a  marble  font  will  serve — both 
of  these  have,  I  believe,  although  neither  would 
be  my  choice.  A  shallow  water  space  rather 
than  a  deep  one  should  be  provided;  and  one 
portion  should  be  shallower  than  the  rest,  for 
the  tiny  fellows  and  the  young  birds.  Stones 
that  are  flat  and  may  be  laid  at  an  incline  to 
form  a  gradual  descent,  duplicate  the  condi- 
tions of  a  brookside  and  please  the  birds;  for 
often  they  come  for  a  drink  and  a  wade  when 
they  cannot  stop  for  a  dip. 

A  wooden  chopping  bowl,  painted  stony  gray 
inside  and  out,  and  sprinkled  with  sand  while 


GARDEN  ACCESSORIES  97 

still  wet,  was  the  inexpensive  yet  very  effective 
provision  made  in  one  garden  that  I  have  known 
of.  Such  a  water  holder,  mounted  on  a  rough 
pile  of  stones  and  buried  to  its  brim  in  vines,  is 
as  picturesque  as  a  very  much  more  elaborate 
pool,  and  is  of  course  lighter  and  easier  to 
handle  than  one  of  stone  or  cement.  It  may  be 
affixed  very  easily  to  a  single  post,  if  an  elevated 
position  is  preferable  for  it.  It  is  a  bath  only 
for  the  most  informal  type  of  garden,  however, 
a  cottage  garden  in  the  true  meaning  of  the 
word.  Elsewhere  something  more  distinctive 
may  be  needed.  A  simple  cement  basin  comes 
nearer  to  the  requirements  of  the  average  sub- 
urban grounds,  without  being  in  the  least  pre- 
tentious. One  may  be  made  by  pouring  the 
cement  into  a  mold  made  of  burlap,  doubled 
and  tacked  into  the  top  of  a  barrel.  The  dip  of 
the  cloth  takes  on  a  very  graceful  form,  and  its 
folds  imprint  melon-like  ridges  on  the  outside 
of  the  basin  that  vary  its  surface  pleasantly. 

Before  the  cement  hardens  the  inside  should 
be  worked  out  and  hollowed  and  smoothed  by 
hand;  and  when  the  cement  has  finally  set — 
after  an  interval  of  about  eight  hours — the  bar- 
rel should  be  turned  on  its  side  and  the  basin 
tipped  out  carefully,  bottom  side  up.  Then  it 
must  be  thoroughly  wet  down  with  a  sprinkling 


98  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

pot,  to  prevent  the  surface  from  drying  faster 
than  the  inner  part,  thus  overcoming  the  tend- 
ency to  crack.  Finally  it  must  be  mounted  on 
a  big  stone  bed,  with  small  stones  laid  around 
as  needed  to  keep  it  erect  and  solid. 

All  basins  of  this  simple  nature,  and  even 
more  elaborate  marble  or  terra-cotta  ones,  are 
very  easily  and  expeditiously  filled  by  hand, 
either  with  a  hose  or  water  carried  to  them  in 
a  pail.  Daily  replenishing  is  usually  sufficient, 
though  during  dry  weather  a  second  supply  is 
sometimes  necessary.  It  is  possible  to  brush 
the  moss  and  slime  from  the  stones  and  the  in- 
side of  the  basin  with  a  whisk  broom  often, 
though  this  is  not  necessary.  Mosquitoes  need 
not  be  apprehended,  for  the  constant  agitation 
of  the  w^ater  would  prevent  their  breeding  if 
the  constant  replenishing  did  not — but  the  lat- 
ter of  course  does.  Only  stagnant  water  is  the 
Anopheles  nursery. 

Next  to  the  bird  bath,  with  its  animation 
and  living  interest,  is  the  sundial — still,  silent, 
mysterious,  in  its  eternal  union  with  Time, 
bringing  its  eloquent  message  in  from  eternal 
space.  Indeed,  when  I  stop  to  dwell  on  its 
awesome  beauty  and  majesty,  I  almost  feel  that 
the  dial  should  take  precedence  over  all  other 
garden  features.    Yet  just  because  of  this  maj- 


GARDEN  ACCESSORIES  98^ 

esty  and  a  certain  veneration  which  it  com- 
mands, I  hesitate  to  put  it  in  first  place — in 
other  people's  gardens.  It  should  only  go  where 
it  is  wanted — and  where  it  will  not  oppress; 
yet  it  can  ill  be  spared  anywhere.  Hence,  if  a 
position  is  available  in  open  and  unobstructed 
sunlight  I  always  hope  that  the  gardener  will 
be  moved  to  set  up  in  it  this  most  ancient  of 
timepieces. 

Bronze  dials  are  of  all  the  most  permanent 
naturally;  but  a  dial  of  cement  well  made  is 
practically  everlasting — and  not  beyond  the 
possibilities  of  amateur  construction,  if  one 
cares  to  take  the  trouble.  The  pedestal  is  im- 
portant and,  from  the  aesthetic  standpoint, 
should  be  given  as  much  consideration  as  the 
dial  itself,  or  more.  For  it  of  course  looms  up 
in  the  garden  vistas  prominently.  Solidity 
is  essential  to  it,  and  only  a  deep  foundation 
will  insure  this,  as  freezing  and  thawing  affect 
the  ground  to  three  feet  or  more  below  its 
surface. 

Of  outdoor  statuary  and  images  there  are  a 
vast  number  too  dreadful  to  contemplate !  Chief 
among  these  are  the  cast-iron  dogs  and  hunters 
and  swan  and  deer,  and  all  the  multitude  of 
monstrosities  of  this  character  that  were  scat- 
tered  extravagantly   a  generation   or   so   ago, 


100  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

guarding  front  doors  and  gracing  (!)  the  midst 
of  lawns.  None  is  so  benighted  as  to  acquire 
these  things  now,  assuredly;  but  altogether  too 
many  which  have  lasted  over  remain  to  afflict 
long-suffering  humanity.  Their  complete  dem- 
olition is  the  only  solution  of  the  aching  prob- 
lems which  they  create,  for  they  came  into  popu- 
lar favor  in  the  black-walnut-and-hair-cloth  era, 
along  with  the  Italian  villa,  a  period  growing 
more  famous — or  infamous — for  its  execrable 
taste,  as  we  come  more  and  more  fully  to  real- 
ize this. 

Most  garden  makers,  however,  are  spared 
these  iron  zoological  specimens,  happily;  so  it 
is  a  question  of  selection  only  and  not  of  de- 
struction first,  when  garden  ornaments  of  a 
plastic  nature  are  to  be  considered.  Personal 
taste  will  naturally  influence  here,  of  course; 
but  if  it  can  be  restrained  from  more  than  in- 
fluencing, if  it  can  be  held  back  and  not  allowed 
actually  to  guide  or  finally  to  determine,  the 
results  will  usually  be  happier.  This  is  not  be- 
cause individual  taste  in  matters  of  art  may 
not  be  of  the  very  highest  order,  but  because 
taste  of  even  a  high  order  may  fail  to  take  into 
consideration  all  the  difference  in  circumstances 
and  conditions  which  a  garden  environment 
involves. 


GARDEN  ACCESSORIES  101 

First  of  all,  for  instance,  it  must  be  kept  in 
mind  that  the  garden  statue  will  be  fixed  in  its 
position  through  all  the  weather  vagaries  of  the 
four  seasons  and  during  the  garden  barrenness 
of  half  the  year.  Any  figure  that  approaches  a 
representation  of  the  altogether  human,  there- 
fore, if  clothed  or  partially  clothed,  will  not  be 
pleasant  to  contemplate  throughout  the  year, 
for  the  very  good  though  perhaps  childish  reason 
that  it  will  seem  very  cold  and  wet  and  suggest 
discomfort  too  keenly,  in  storm.  Imagination 
makes  us  childish  very  often;  and  even  repre- 
sentations of  the  gods  of  the  ancients  are  not 
beyond  thus  impressing  our  human  and  com- 
fort-loving side — if  they  wear  drapery  or  cloth- 
ing. Nudes,  however,  do  not  have  this  effect; 
and  of  course  satyrs  and  nymphs  and  the  great 
god  Pan  come  under  this  general  exception. 

And  then  abstract  conceptions  rather  than 
incident  should  be  chosen;  and  no  better  nor 
more  appropriate  subjects  can  be  found  than 
mythology  offers.  Best  of  all  to  my  mind,  for 
general  use,  are  Hermae — those  graceful  swelling 
pillars  surmounted  by  heads  of  varying  charac- 
ter, all  representing  the  god  Hermes  originally, 
but  now  frequently  the  likeness  of  satyr  or  faun 
or  nymph  or  just  a  fanciful  head — that  present 
lines  so  pleasing  when  thrown  into  clear  relief 


102  COME  INTO  THE   GARDEN 

against  a  wall  or  background  of  live  green. 
The  appropriate  symbolism,  too,  of  a  Herm  in 
the  garden,  especially  at  the  intersection  of 
walks  at  a  turn,  makes  it  an  interesting  as  well 
as  a  picturesque  attribute. 

The  situations  where  a  shaft  or  column,  sur- 
mounted by  a  classic  capital  perhaps  or  some 
device  of  interest  and  beauty,  may  be  placed  to 
advantage  are  very  much  less  common  than 
those  which  will  admit  the  Herm,  for  such  a 
feature  is  not  suitable  where  a  generally  infor- 
mal or  careless  scheme  has  been  adopted.  The 
straight,  clear  lines  of  a  column  are  distinctly 
architectural  and  necessarily  convey  an  impres- 
sion of  formality  and  dignity  which  must  react 
against  the  simple  cottage  type  of  garden  to 
the  latter' s  disadvantage,  and  which  must  also 
subject  the  architecture  of  the  hou?e  to  critical 
and  very  possible  crushing  comparison.  The 
column  is  indeed  a  very  finished  and  elegant 
object  and  must  have  finished  surroundings. 
Ordinarily  I  should  advise  against  using  it  in  a 
small  garden,  although  it  is  not  a  question  of 
size  at  all.  The  simplest  garden  design  will 
admit  it,  and  the  smallest  space,  if  it  is  all  de- 
cidedly formal  and  accompanied  by  a  house  of 
refined  motif  and  real  architectural  merit. 

Reverting  finally  to  the  arch — which  has  been 


GARDEN  ACCESSORIES  103 

left  to  the  last  because,  although  it  is  in  its  pur- 
pose an  ornament,  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  struc- 
tural feature — there  is  just  one  positive  thing  to 
be  said  with  regard  to  its  position.  An  arch 
should  always  be  at  a  point  of  transition  from 
one  part  or  phase  of  the  garden  to  another — 
and  never  anywhere  else.  In  other  words,  re- 
gard it  as  a  door,  and  imagine  that  it  leads 
through  a  wall;  then  you  will  have  a  true  idea 
of  the  difference  which  should  be  apparent,  be- 
tween the  parts  which  it  connects. 

This  gives  it  a  raisoii  d'etre,  and  it  at  once 
acquires  the  character  and  importance  which 
should  distinguish  it,  however  simple  and  crude 
the  materials  of  which  it  is  constructed.  Let 
it  mark  an  end  and  a  beginning  always;  never 
put  it  midway  of  a  path  or  in  the  garden's  cen- 
ter. Even  though  it  leads  through  no  wall 
which  obscures  that  which  lies  beyond,  this 
definite  dividing  function  which  is  peculiarly 
its  own,  this  ceremonial  leaving  and  entering 
which  it  expresses,  must  never  be  taken  away 
from  it.  Subject  to  this  one  limitation  and 
necessity,  it  may  be  used  with  excellent  ejffect  at 
almost  any  portion  of  the  grounds  or  garden. 


God  the  first  garden  made,  and  the  first  city  Cain." 

— Cowley. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Place  That  is  Started 

THERE  are  of  course  a  vast  number  of  gar- 
dens waiting  to  be  made  that  cannot  be 
taken  in  hand  from  the  bare  ground  up — and 
here  we  confront  special  conditions  and  special 
problems  quite  unlilve  those  which  are  a  part 
of  garden  making  where  it  has  a  more  ideal 
start.  They  are  enough  like  each  other,  how- 
ever, to  make  a  general  survey  of  them  possible; 
and  general  suggestions  concerning  them  may 
be  more  helpful  perhaps  than  an  attempt  at 
detailed  directions  for  their  treatment  might  be. 
The  one  thing  is  to  approach  the  problem  ex- 
pectantly and  confidently. 

The  process  of  building  a  place  up  is  of  course 
the  same,  whatever  the  conditions,  and  succes- 
sive steps  follow  each  other  whether  the  start 
104 


PLACE  THAT  IS  STARTED  105 

is  made  in  the  midst  of  a  half-completed  task 
or  at  the  beginning  of  the  work.  So  the  first 
thing  to  be  done  with  the  place  already  par- 
tially established  is  to  determine  just  where  a 
start  may  be  made — in  other  words,  just  which 
steps  have  been  irrevocably  taken,  and  how 
many  may  be  retraced,  if  it  seems  wise  to  re- 
trace, in  order  to  reach  the  one  farthest  back 
from  which  to  inaugurate  the  work.  Assuredly 
the  plan  and  the  position  of  the  house  are  fixed, 
beyond  all  possibility  of  change,  which  elimi- 
nates the  first  step  of  all.  The  dwelling's  ex- 
posure is  thus  settled  and  the  convenient  dis- 
position of  the  ground  about  it,  according  to 
the  location  of  the  doors  and  windows,  its  ser- 
vice, and  its  social  portion  has  probably  been 
made,  or  accepted  as  it  has  made  itself. 

The  garden  design,  however,  which  is  hardly 
a  design  at  all,  is  not  unalterable;  neither  are 
the  grades;  nor  as  a  matter  of  fact  are  any  of 
the  other  attributes  or  features  which  follow  in 
orderly  sequence,  from  the  initial  step  of  plan- 
ning and  choosing  the  position  of  the  house. 
Walks  may  be  changed  and  arbors  and  all  the 
things  of  this  sort;  plants  may  be  moved,  even 
very  large  ones,  if  the  work  is  carefully  and 
properly  done.  Really  the  only  step  which  is 
not  retraceable  then  is  the  very  first,  unless 


106  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

perchance  a  large  tree  has  grown  up  in  the 
wrong  place.    But  this  we  will  come  to  later. 

So  all  the  way  back  to  that  first  step  we  may 
go,  and  thus  make  a  beginning  with  the  second 
— the  garden  design.  Of  course  this  will  be 
greatly  influenced  by  the  work  already  done, 
but  after  all  it  is  not  of  necessity  absolutely 
determined  in  all  its  parts  by  this.  And  its 
possibilities,  though  perhaps  not  as  great  as 
they  might  have  been  with  a  different  start,  are 
not  by  any  means  even  hinted  at  in  the  usual 
negligent  acceptance  of  it  as  it  stands.  With  a 
plan  of  the  ground  and  the  house  in  its  place  on 
the  ground,  therefore,  before  us,  let  us  begin  the 
work  just  as  we  would  go  on  from  this  point  if 
it  had  been  possible  to  start  at  the  beginning. 

The  firsts  thing  in  design  is  the  border,  quite 
as  truly  now  as  in  the  other  instances;  so  the 
border  allowance  is  the  first  thing  to  be  laid  off 
on  the  plan.  How  much  this  shall  be  depends 
on  the  border  that  is  to  be  used,  of  course,  but 
an  allowance  of  two  feet  all  around  will  cover 
wall  and  fruits,  hedge,  fence  and  fruits,  or  fence 
and  flower  border;  this  may,  therefore,  be  made 
and  the  kind  of  an  inclosure  decided  upon  later. 
Then  to  the  actual  design — which  is  to  be  uni- 
fied, you  will  recall,  and  held  together  first  of 
all  by  giving  it  an  axis  from  which  to  grow. 


PLACE  THAT  IS  STARTED  107 

The  house  plan  and  the  disposal  of  entrances 
and  windows  and  all  similar  features  will  fix  this, 
or  will  indicate  its  logical  position.  But  the  out- 
doors must  be  taken  into  consideration,  too,  and 
the  most  advantageous  division  of  the  ground 
insured.  An  axis  should  also  be  so  located  that 
it  naturally  invites  the  eye  to  follow  its  direc- 
tion without  obstructions  to  divert  it.  So  here 
again  I  must  ask  you  to  refer  to  a  diagram  (page 
108),  made  in  this  instance  from  a  house  as  built 
on  its  plot — which  was  afterwards  designed — in 
a  typical  suburban  development.  The  house  is 
34  by  40  feet,  exclusive  of  porches,  and  its  front 
porch  line  is  25  feet  back  from  the  sidewalk.  It 
is  4  feet  from  its  boundary  on  the  west,  which 
leaves  12  feet  at  the  other  side,  the  lot  being  50 
by  100. 

The  entrance  to  the  front  in  the  original  ar- 
rangement passed  straight  from  the  sidewalk 
to  front  steps.  The  old  position  of  these  is  in- 
dicated by  dotted  lines  in  the  diagram — for  al- 
most the  first  thing  which  required  doing  was 
their  shifting.  In  their  original  position  they 
opened  the  porch  up  too  freely  to  the  street,  as 
well  as  necessitated  an  entrance  walk  in  the 
midst  of  the  small  space  before  the  house.  Both 
of  these  were  bad  features,  hence  the  change. 

The  whole  place  at  best   is   cramped,    and 


108 


V.  Planting  Plan. 

1.  Wall  fruit  trees,  Verrier  form. 

2.  Lattice  with  arched  opening  at  X. 

3.  Wall  fruit  trees,  palmetto  form. 

4.  Flowers. 

4b.  Shade-enduring  flowers. 

5.  Roses. 

6.  Sundial. 

7.  Steps  down,  arches  over;   on  these  a  Dorothy  Perkins  rose 

and  Clematis. 

8.  Terra  cotta  bird  bath,  10  inches  in  diameter. 

9.  Turf  edging  to  all  flower  spaces. 

10.  Sweetbriar  rose;   rosa  rubiginosa,  Penzance  hybrid. 

11.  Climbing  honeysuckle;   lonicera  Halledna. 

12.  Boston  ivy;  ampelopsis  Veitchii. 

13.  Grapes. 

109 


110  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

the  house,  though  fairly  pleasant,  is  much 
broken  up,  with  absolutely  no  axial  points.  Of 
course  the  ground  outside  it  is  also  broken  up 
and  disjointed;  this  would  follow  naturally,  and 
indeed  is  the  case  in  almost  all  places  of  this 
kind.  The  two  things  most  imperative,  there- 
fore, if  a  garden  of  any  real  distinction  is  to 
be  expected,  are  something  to  give  a  sense  of 
greater  space,  and  an  axis  that  will  pull  every- 
thing together — front  and  rear  and  side  spaces, 
and  house  and  garden,  too.  Such  a  line  and 
only  such  a  line  w^ill  unify  all  these  totally  unlil^e 
and  unrelated  parts. 

The  front-to-back  axis  of  the  wider  space  at 
the  side  is  the  choice,  although  it  cannot  truth- 
fully be  called  a  "choice"  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
for  it  is  really  the  only  line  from  which  any  be- 
ginning can  be  made.  As  soon  as  it  is  drawn  it 
vindicates  its  insistence,  however,  by  instantly 
revealing  the  key  to  the  spaciousness  which  is 
so  essential.  The  entrance  falls  naturally  on  it 
in  the  front ;  and  then  the  far  distance  at  its  ex- 
treme other  end  immediately  suggests  a  place 
for  something  which  shall  attract  the  eye  the 
moment  the  entrance  is  reached,  and  distract 
it  from  the  smallness  of  all  the  rest.  As  an 
actual  fact  the  sundial  as  shown  is  more 
than  85  feet  from  the  gateway  where  it  is  first 


PLACE  THAT  IS  STARTED  111 

seen — a  very  creditable  little  vista  for  a  small 
garden. 

The  house  does  not  connect  direct  with  this 
long  axis,  but  it  is  sufficiently  united  with  the 
garden  generally  through  the  lines  of  the  broad 
walk  leading  from  this  to  its  steps;  also  by  the 
locating  of  the  bird  bath  at  the  point  of  inter- 
section of  the  sitting-room  axis  with  the  trans- 
verse axis  of  the  dooryard.  A  lattice  extending 
across  to  the  boundary  at  the  rear  and  spanning 
the  main  walk  with  an  arch,  further  draws 
house  and  garden  together. 

The  entire  garden  is  inclosed  with  a  plastered 
wall  made  on  a  wood  and  galvanized  wire  lath 
framework,  supported  between  brick  piers. 
This  is  level  on  top  and  runs  from  a  height  of 
six  feet  in  front  to  about  eight  in  the  rear,  owing 
to  the  pitch  of  the  land.  It  starts  at  the  front 
corner  of  the  house  rather  than  on  the  boundary 
line,  thus  allowing  space  for  the  service  entrance 
to  pass  along  between  the  house  and  the  bound- 
ary. This  brings  the  service  gate  admitting 
to  the  garden  at  the  rear  of  the  house,  where  the 
wall  completes  its  course  at  the  house  corner 
again  and  ends. 

Here  is  the  design  in  all  its  salient  features, 
simple,  restful,  unusual,  and  yet  not  in  the  least 
startling.    The  most  radical  thing  about  it  is  the 


112  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

wall — and  this  will  seem  radical  only  for  a  little 
while,  for  its  economic  service  as  well  as  its  very 
great  charm  will  become  apparent  to  all  who  see  it. 

Grades  engage  attention  third  on  the  list,  so 
the  grading  is  the  next  thing  to  be  looked  into 
here.  Of  course  the  dip  of  the  land  toward  the 
rear  was  taken  neither  account  nor  advantage 
of,  in  the  original  smoothing  down.  It  fell 
away  in  an  even  slope  from  about  the  front 
line  of  the  house,  with  a  lawn  that  was  just 
like  any  lawn  anywhere.  Earth  enough  to  grade 
to  a  level  as  far  as  the  rear  of  the  house  where 
the  lattice  crosses  was  obtained  from  the  back 
yard,  on  the  railroad  plan  of  cut  and  fill,  the 
cut  just  making  the  fill.  This  secured  the  drop 
at  the  lattice  which  adds  greatly  to  the  interest 
and  beauty  of  the  long  vista  to  the  sundial 
standing  on  the  lower  level. 

The  first  walks  were  granolithic;  the  present 
walks  are  gravel  with  brick  edging.  The  gate 
is  high  and  solid  paneled  except  for  a  small 
latticed  space  suggestive  of  the  old-time  wicket, 
on  a  level  with  the  eyes;  its  material  is  cypress 
and  it  is  stained  to  match  the  cypress  shingles 
of  the  upper  part  of  the  house.  The  lower 
story  of  this,  by  the  way,  is  plastered,  and  the 
foundation  is  of  brick;  hence  the  plastered  gar- 
den wall  on  brick  piers. 


PLACE  THAT  IS  STARTED  113 

No  arbor  or  summer  house  seemed  desirable 
here,  as  every  bit  of  sunny  space  was  wanted 
for  practical  use.  A  seat  by  the  sundial  may 
furnish  a  resting  spot  without  shading  any  of 
the  precious  fruit  space  along  the  northeast 
wall  as  an  arbor  would  have  done.  Yet  a  tiny 
gazebo  on  this  wall  at  the  end  of  the  walk  would 
not  use  up  much  space  nor  sunlight  if  one  very 
much  wished  to  have  it.  Personally  I  am  al- 
ways in  favor  of  some  out-in-the-garden  shelter, 
but  for  those  who  do  not  feel  that  such  a  fea- 
ture is  absolutely  essential  to  their  happiness,  it 
is  perhaps  as  well  to  omit  it  on  a  small  place — 
for  it  is  likely  not  to  be  used,  where  there  is  no 
enthusiasm  for  it. 

The  planting  of  this  place  is  of  the  highest 
economic  eflSciency,  as  the  key  shows.  And  it 
may  be  truthfully  said  that  at  least  fifty  per 
cent,  of  this  eflSciency  is  made  possible  by  the 
wall  whereon  the  fruits  are  growing.  Every 
inch  of  this  which  is  open  toward  the  south 
is  covered  with  these,  and  the  rear  wall  too, 
which  is  reached  only  by  the  overhead  and 
western  sun,  has  been  planted  experimentally. 
No  special  drying  yard  or  space  for  clothes 
is  necessary,  as  a  clothes  reel  is  used  which  fits 
into  a  socket  that  is  buried  in  a  secondary 
path  of  the  rear  garden.    This  folds  up  and  puts 


) 


114 


VI.  Planting  Plan. 

The  suggested  treatment  of  a  neighboring  plot  the  same 
size  with  a  house  of  altogether  different  character  is  given, 
for  comparison.  The  owner's  desire  in  this  instance  is  not 
so  fixed  upon  the  growth  of  useful  things,  owing  to  his  ab- 
sence during  a  large  part  of  the  summer.  The  house  is  cen- 
tered on  the  plot,  consequently  there  is  no  need  for  estab- 
lishing an  axis.  Consequently,  too,  the  design  is  bound  to 
be  symmetrical;  hence  symmetry  is  taken  for  its  leading 
note,  and  a  still  more  perfect  balance  than  already  exists  in 
it  is  obtained  by  introducing  the  little  Dutch  garden  in  the 
angle  of  upright  and  L  at  the  rear.  From  this  a  walk,  cor- 
responding to  the  service  walk  opposite,  leads  to  the  ter- 
race in  front.  A  hedge  six  feet  high  encloses  the  entire 
place,  growing  through  and  concealing  a  strong  and  im- 
penetrable fence  of  galvanized  wire.  This  hedge  is  carried 
up  and  over  the  main  gateway  in  a  clipped  arch,  and  ex- 
tends in  from  this  to  form  a  low  border  along  the  walk  to 
the  foot  of  the  steps.  Quite  definitely  the  service  yard  is 
set  apart  and  screened  with  arborvitae,  faced  with  a  win- 
ter shrubbery  border;  and  a  bronze  piping  Pan  stands  at 
the  rear  on  the  axis  of  the  living  room,  Dutch  garden  and 
lawn. 

1.  Privet  hedge,  Ligustrum  Amurense. 

2.  Flowers. 

3.  Dwarf  fruit  trees. 

4.  Faun. 


115 


116  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

away  in  the  laundry  between  times.  So  the 
entire  space  at  the  rear  of  the  house  is  an  in- 
tensively cultivated  vegetable  garden — and  I 
should  not  be  surprised  to  see  the  similar  area 
in  front  given  over  to  the  daintier  vegetables 
some  of  these  days,  with  flowers  suitably  orna- 
menting its  borders! 

Not  a  tree  has  been  introduced  save  the  wall 
fruits,  nor  are  there  any  shrubs.  In  fact  the 
limitations  of  this  particular  place  and  of  this 
kind  of  place  have  been  fully  recognized  and 
made  to  furnish  its  keynote.  Yet  it  is  richer 
by  an  inestimable  degree  in  appearance,  and  in 
fact,  than  dozens  of  garden  plots  its  size;  and 
the  interest  and  entertainment  and  pleasant 
delight  within  its  stout  walls  are  as  much  as 
one  might  find  on  many  places  containing  acres. 
Flowers  border  the  long,  straight  walk  its  en- 
tire length,  yellow  being  the  dominant  color 
opposite  the  house  to  brighten  the  shade  al- 
ways resting  there.  Currant  and  gooseberry 
bushes  flourish  between  this  flower  border  and 
the  house,  from  the  bay  of  the  hall  back  to  the 
lattice.  On  the  south  side  of  the  lattice,  ex- 
posed to  the  sun,  is  a  grape  vine  nearest  the 
house,  but  next  the  wall  there  is  a  climbing 
rose  which  covers  the  arch  and  waves  greeting 
to  the  outer  world,  where  it  peers  above.     A 


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PLACE  THAT  IS  STARTED  117 

honeysuckle  grows  In  the  shadier  corner  that 
faces  the  street,  and  ivy  is  slowly  climbing  the 
shady  portion  of  the  wall  here  and  there.  Three 
more  grape  vines  spread  themselves,  one  on  a 
trellis  against  the  rear  porch,  the  other  two  on 
another  against  the  rear  of  the  house;  and 
honeysuckle  and  sweetbrier  roses  climb  the 
porch  columns  in  front. 

Between  these  two  places,  chosen  as  illustra- 
tions, there  are  of  course  all  manner  of  things 
possible,  even  when  a  place  has  been  started — 
providing  the  conventional  lack  of  garden  is  ab- 
solutely ignored  and  all  remembrance  of  it  wiped 
off  the  slate.  It  is  this  which  most  seriously 
hampers  the  development  of  all  small  gardens. 
Until  we  rid  ourselves  of  it,  therefore,  we  need 
not  expect  to  do  more  than  has  been  done — 
we  need  not  indeed  expect  to  have  gardens 
at  all,  but  only  grounds. 


'From  yon  blue  heaven  above  us  bent, 

The  gardener  Adam  and  his  wife, 
Smile  at  the  claims  of  long  descent.'* 
— The  Lady  Clara  Vere  de  Vere — Tennyson. 


CHAPTER  IX 

Planting  and  Maintenance 

Planting 

A  LTHOUGH  anyone  may  bury  the  root  end  of 
Jl\  a  shrub  or  tree  or  any  kind  of  vegetable 
under  a  mass  of  earth  and  do  it  thoroughly  and 
completely,  the  operation  of  restoring  to  its  na- 
tive element  vegetation  which  has  been  up- 
rooted is  not  by  any  means  successfully  accom- 
plished with  such  interment.  Roots  must  not 
only  be  covered — they  must  actually  be  re- 
stored, as  far  as  possible,  to  just  the  positions 
which  they  originally  occupied;  to  the  same 
depth  in  the  soil  and  to  the  same  perfect  con- 
tact with  it. 

Perhaps  it  would  express  the  truth  more  viv- 
idly if  I  were  to  say  rootlets  instead  of  roots,  for 
it  is  the  rootlets  that  are  of  the  greatest  im- 
118 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE     119 

portance.  Take  care  of  these  and  the  roots  will 
take  care  of  themselves — almost.  For  every 
tiny,  hair-like  root  filament  is  a  hungry  little 
mouth,  and  the  greatest  tree  is  as  dependent 
upon  these  as  the  humblest  little  annual,  its 
massive  woody  roots  being  actually  no  more 
than  anchors. 

Contact  with  the  food  is  the  first  mechanical 
essential  to  feeding,  in  either  the  vegetable  or 
animal  kingdom.  The  food  of  plants  is  taken 
in  solution  from  the  earth;  in  other  words  it  is 
a  liquid  diet  strictly,  and  it  is  absorbed  through 
the  delicate  walls  of  these  tiny,  soft,  tender 
little  feeding  rootlets,  then  passes  up  along  the 
canal  (which  runs  through  even  the  tiniest) 
into  the  larger  rootlets  whence  these  spring, 
and  so  on,  up  and  up  until  the  main  "trunk 
line"  is  reached;  and  then  still  up  into  branch 
and  twig  and  leaf,  every  part  receiving  due  pro- 
portion of  its  particular  requirement  as  the 
transit  is  made.  Finally,  through  the  leaves, 
the  water,  strained  of  its  organic  and  mineral 
content,  is  transpired  and  returns  to  the  at- 
mosphere. In  the  course  of  a  single  summer 
day  an  ordinary  tree  will  yield  fifty  gallons  of 
water — perhaps  much  more — under  the  insis- 
tent heat  of  the  sun.  And  vegetation  generally 
is  calculated  as  transpiring  horn,  forty  to  one  hun- 


120  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

dred  gallons  of  water  to  every  pound  of  dry 
growth. 

All  plants  as  they  grow,  establish  the  equilib- 
rium between  their  tops  and  their  roots  which 
this  astonishing  fact  shows  to  be  so  important, 
so  that  the  latter  draw  up  just  the  right  amount 
of  water  to  supply  what  the  former  transpire. 
And  this  equilibrium  must  be  maintained — which 
brings  us  to  the  first  consideration  incident  to 
the  work  of  planting,  namely,  the  cutting  back 
of  tops  to  meet  the  root  loss  that  is  always  un- 
avoidable. It  is  not  always  easy  to  judge  just 
what  the  latter  has  been,  when  stock  is  received 
from  a  nursery;  yet  careful  examination  of  the 
roots  will  usually  make  it  fairly  clear — and  a 
little  more  vigorous  pruning  at  the  top  than 
seems  absolutely  necessary  is  always  wise. 

For  instance,  if  one-quarter  of  a  root  system 
has  been  injured,  one-third  of  the  top  should 
be  sacrificed  rather  than  one-fifth;  for  branch 
and  leaf  will  make  haste  to  put  forth  and  catch 
up  with  the  roots  that  overbalance  them,  where- 
as an  insufficient  root  system,  over-drained  by 
too  much  top,  cannot  be  made  up  so  quickly 
and  will  cause  the  whole  plant  to  languish  and 
weaken,  just  as  an  underfed  person  or  animal 
weakens,  making  it  an  especially  susceptible 
subject  for  disease  to  attack. 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE      121 

Cut  away  all  damaged  roots  in  the  first  place, 
and  trim  all  stumps  smooth  and  clean  of  slivers 
and  loose  fibers,  that  there  may  be  no  place  for 
fungus  to  lodge  or  decay  to  enter.  Then  cut 
away  a  little  bit  more,  proportionately,  at  the 
top,  taking  care  to  preserve  the  character  of 
the  plant  always,  whether  much  or  little  is 
taken  off.  Branches  cannot  be  snipped  off  here 
and  there  regardless  of  everything  except  get- 
ting rid  of  them,  but  selective  pruning  must  re- 
duce the  plant  everywhere  equally.  Usually  it 
is  possible  simply  to  cut  all  branches  back  the 
requisite  amount,  but  in  the  case  of  trees  which 
progress  distinctly  by  means  of  a  leader — as 
the  Lombardy  poplar  and  the  maidenhair  tree 
or  Gingko — the  leader  should  not  be  cut.  If  it 
is,  the  tree's  character  is  destroyed,  even  though 
it  makes  the  noblest  efforts  to  overcome  the 
injury — for  the  ideal  long,  straight  bole,  unin- 
terrupted from  earth  to  tip,  is  impossible  to 
restore  once  it  has  been  tampered  with. 

Occasionally  an  entire  branch  will  need  to 
be  removed,  although  nursery  grown  trees  that 
have  been  well  cared  for  will  seldom  show  such 
superfluous  growth.  Where  two  branches  rise 
from  the  trunk  at  the  same  point,  one  must  al- 
ways come  out — and  sometimes  this  result  of 
gross  negligence  is  found,  even  in  nursery  stock, 


122  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

for  there  are  many  nurseries  unfortunately 
where  lax  methods  prevail.  Two  such  branches 
with  their  double  weight  and  consequent  strain 
weaken  the  tree  as  they  grow  to  maturity  and 
invite  a  split  at  that  point  as  the  years  ad- 
vance. Remove  the  one  which  will  least  im- 
pair the  tree's  symmetry — and  in  removing  it, 
cut  away  down  level  with  the  bark  of  the  trunk, 
and  leave  no  stump  whatsoever. 

Plants  that  have  been  packed  and  shipped  al- 
ways come  out  of  their  wrappings  with  roots 
very  much  compressed,  naturally.  Work  them 
out  carefully  and  into  their  natural  positions  in 
so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  before  under- 
taking to  plant  them.  Immersing  them  in  water 
will  soften  and  so  help  to  restore  them,  if  they 
persist  in  their  constrained  positions,  providing 
a  broad  enough  vessel  is  available.  A  wash  tub 
will  serve  usually.  Let  them  drain  after  such 
a  bath,  however,  until  the  rootlets  shake  freely 
apart,  otherwise  it  may  do  more  harm  than  good 
by  interfering  with  the  free  sifting  of  earth  in 
and  around  each. 

This  is  always  to  be  the  aim  in  planting — to 
surround  every  rootlet  with  earth,  just  as  it  was 
surrounded  when  it  crowded  its  way  through  the 
soil  where  it  first  grew;  to  bring  earth  particles 
into  close  contact  with  it  on  every  side,  that  it 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE     123 

may  feed  freely  and  uninterruptedly.  In  order 
to  do  this  there  must  not  be  a  great  am^ount  of 
moisture  in  the  soil  when  planting  is  done;  for 
moist  earth  packs  in  chunks  rather  than  sifts, 
not  only  leaving  rootlets  hung  in  its  midst  but 
tearing  many  of  them  from  the  plant  by  reason 
of  its  weight.  Therefore  choose  a  dry  time  rath- 
er than  a  wet  one  for  planting. 

Holes  must  be  dug  to  the  full  size  of  the 
spread  of  the  roots  after  these  have  assumed 
their  normal  position,  and  to  six  inches  below 
the  depth  of  the  deepest  of  them.  Remember 
that  roots  grow  at  their  tips,  out  and  dowriy  just 
as  branches  grow  out  and  up;  see  that  these  tips 
are  turned  down,  therefore.  I  speak  of  this  par- 
ticularly because  there  is  always  a  tendency  to 
shirk  when  it  comes  to  making  a  hole  the  full 
depth  required  and  full  size  all  the  way  down; 
indeed  I  think  I  may  say  that  I  have  never 
found  a  gardener,  amateur  or  professional,  who 
did  not  exhibit  this  tendency  to  a  very  marked 
degree.  So  I  am  perfectly  certain  the  average 
beginner  is  not  going  to  prove  an  exception — 
for  he  is  pretty  sure  to  be  in  a  hurry  and  to  want 
results,  not  work.  It  will  not  do  to  cheat,  how- 
ever, nor  to  assure  oneself  that  it  cannot  matter 
much.  The  depth  at  which  roots  have  estab- 
lished themselves  below  the  surface  is  the  depth 


124  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

at  which  the  right  amount  of  air  and  of  surface 
heat  will  reach  them — and  their  restoration  to 
this  depth,  particularly  at  their  sensitive  and 
growing  tips,  is  absolutely  essential. 

The  extra  depth  of  six  inches  to  which  the  hole 
is  excavated  is  to  be  filled  in  with  a  mound  or 
pyramid  shaped  cushion  of  good  soil  and  well 
rotted  manure,  if  the  latter  is  available.  If  not, 
the  soil  alone  will  do,  well  stirred  and  loosened 
so  that  the  lowest  rootlets  may  quickly  and 
easily  penetrate  it.  Make  this  mound  of  the 
right  slope  and  form  to  conform  to  the  down- 
ward and  outward  sweep  of  the  roots ;  then  place 
the  specimen  upon  it  and  jounce  it  up  and 
down  gently,  that  it  may  bed  itself  naturally 
upon  the  yielding  earth  cushion.  Make  sure 
now  that  the  plant  stands  with  the  earth  mark 
on  its  bole — or  branches  if  it  is  a  shrub — exactly 
level  with  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  guard 
carefully  against  planting  it  either  higher  or 
lower  than  it  stood  originally.  A  straight  board 
or  stick  long  enough  to  lie  on  the  ground  and 
span  the  hole,  put  across  it  close  up  against  the 
plant,  will  show  exactly  where  the  surface  is 
coming  when  the  hole  is  filled.  If  this  is  not  at 
the  right  point,  lift  the  specimen  out  and  add 
earth  or  take  it  out  as  circumstances  require. 

Be  careful — scrupulously  careful — about  all 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE      125 

these  little  things;  they  count.  When  just  the 
right  depth  is  secured  and  all  the  roots  are  ad- 
justed over  the  earth  cushion  around  the  en- 
tire plant,  with  none  turned  under  or  up  at  the 
tips  for  lack  of  space  to  lie  straight  out,  begin 
filling  in  with  the  light  and  richer  top  soil, 
throwing  it  into  the  pockets  and  crevices  which 
will  show  around  and  within  the  root  mass, 
and  firming  it  down  and  in  against  the  root- 
lets by  hammering  it  gently  with  a  roundheaded 
stick.  An  inverted  broom  handle  is  excellent 
for  this. 

It  is  safe  and  right  to  do  this  packing  down 
of  the  earth  or  tamping  much  more  firmly  than 
the  beginner  usually  thinks  proper,  for  even 
with  the  greatest  care  there  will  still  be  tiny 
interstices  here  and  there  where  rootlets  will  go 
hungry.  So  do  not  be  apprehensive  of  over- 
doing it,  unless  the  soil  is  moist  and  heavy — 
that  is,  like  putty  or  dough.  Do  not  plant  at 
all  however  when  soil  is  in  this  condition;  it 
takes  an  expert  to  do  that,  and  even  he  runs 
chances  of  failure. 

But  of  course  earth  should  not  be  beaten 
down  into  a  state  resembling  cement,  however 
dry  it  is.  The  idea  is  simply  to  overcome  the 
looseness  which  follows  its  turning  over  and 
stirring  about,  and  to  settle  it  at  once,  instead 


126  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

of  waiting  for  it  to  settle  itself,  establishing  by 
so  doing  close  contact  all  around  the  feeding 
roots.  While  this  tamping  and  filling  in  is  being 
done,  the  specimen  should  be  continually  jolted 
lightly  up  and  down  to  induce  further  settling 
of  the  earth  into  obscure  pockets  and  under- 
neath and  around  roots  that  are  beyond  reach. 
Thus  gradually  it  will  sift  into  place,  if  the  work 
is  not  hurried  or  slighted,  and  an  almost  com- 
plete restoration  of  the  plant  to  its  original  con- 
dition will  be  accomplished. 

As  soon  as  roots  are  covered  and  the  plant 
is  fixed,  the  delicate  part  of  the  operation  is 
done.  The  earth  should  continually  be  firmed, 
however,  as  it  is  thrown  in,  by  treading  it  down, 
until  only  a  saucer-like  depression  over  the  en- 
tire hole  remains.  Stop  right  here  and  fill  this 
with  water.  It  may  take  a  pailful,  perhaps 
less;  more  is  hardly  necessary,  although  it  will 
do  no  harm.  Pour  it  in  around  the  edges, 
gently,  so  the  earth  will  not  be  washed  back 
or  to  one  side,  and  let  it  have  time  to  settle 
gradually.  When  it  has  all  disappeared,  fill  in 
the  remaining  earth,  not  packing  it,  however, 
save  with  slaps  of  the  shovel  broadside.  Leave 
at  the  last  a  half  inch  sprinkling  of  loose  earth 
on  top  as  a  dust  mulch  to  retain  moisture. 

This  completes  the  actual  planting;   the  sea- 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE      127 

son  of  the  year  will  determine  whether  or  not 
anything  further  must  be  done.  If  it  is  spring- 
time, this  is  enough,  but  if  it  is  fall  a  mulch  of 
straw  or  leaves  eight  inches  deep  or  more  must 
be  made  ready  to  cover  the  entire  area  dis- 
turbed as  soon  as  frost  enters  the  ground.  This 
must  be  retained  by  branches  or  loose  sticks 
laid  over  it,  until  frost  finally  leaves  again,  in 
the  spring;  and  instead  of  watering  the  plant 
later  in  the  summer,  keep  the  natural  moisture 
in  the  ground  by  tilling  the  entire  space  lightly. 
Planting  may  be  done  either  in  spring  or  fall, 
with  but  few  exceptions.  Cone-bearing  ever- 
greens are  not  usually  handled  at  either  sea- 
son, however,  August  and  early  September  be- 
ing the  accepted  time  for  moving  these.  The 
broad-leaved  evergreens,  such  as  rhododen- 
drons, are  most  successfully  moved  in  the 
spring;  and  thin  barked  trees,  such  as  the 
birch  or  beech,  are  likely  to  suffer  when  shifted 
at  any  other  time.  Personally  I  prefer  fall  for 
all  other  general  planting,  owing  to  the  more 
settled  weather  conditions  which  prevail,  and 
the  even  temperature  and  warmth  of  the  soil 
at  that  season.  In  places  where  severe  win- 
ters are  the  rule  it  is  not  advisable,  however, 
neither  should  it  ever  be  undertaken  on  land 
that  is  cold  and  wet. 


128  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

Evergreens,  both  cone-bearing  and  broad- 
leaved,  must  have  a  Httle  space  all  to  them- 
selves, for  their  treatment  is  very  special  and 
they  are  very  risky  things  to  handle  out  of  the 
ground.  Never  buy  them  unless  you  are  as- 
sured that  they  will  be  dug  with  a  ball  of  earth 
clinging  to  their  roots,  which  will  be  properly 
burlaped  as  soon  as  the  specimen  is  lifted  from 
the  ground  and  carefully  packed  to  assure  its 
remaining  in  place  in  transit.  Do  not  open  this 
packing  until  the  hole  to  receive  the  plant  is 
dug  to  the  proper  depth  and  a  little  larger  than 
the  earth  ball  and  is  ready  to  receive  it,  with  no 
manure  uncovered,  but  with  a  sifting  of  fine 
earth  over  any  that  may  have  been  used  to  pre- 
vent the  roots  from  coming  in  contact  with  it. 

Then  cut  the  stitches  which  hold  the  burlap, 
lift  the  plant  into  the  hole  still  inclosed  in  it, 
and  finally  work  it  down  gradually  on  all  sides 
and  under  the  earth  ball,  being  careful  to  keep 
this  intact  if  it  is  possible  to  do  so.  To  this  end, 
evergreens  must  never  be  shaken  and  jolted  as 
deciduous  plants  are,  but  should  be  held  still 
while  the  fine  top  soil  is  sifted  around  and 
tamped  under  and  against  the  ball  of  earth 
about  their  roots.  This  tamping  should  be  very 
firmly  done  indeed,  underneath  and  then  grad- 
ually up  and  around  the  sides.    The  burlap  is 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE     129 

left  in  the  hole  and  buried — for  being  vegetable 
matter  it  will  ultimately  disintegrate. 

Leave  a  depression  just  as  in  filling  in  about 
deciduous  plants — in  this  instance  it  will  be  a 
ring,  however,  at  the  circumference  of  the  earth 
ball,  instead  of  a  saucer — into  which  pour  water 
gently  that  it  may  leach  down  and  complete 
the  welding  of  earth  particles  together.  Finally, 
fill  this  depression  and  spread  a  mulch  of  pack- 
ing or  of  straw  or  litter  over  all  the  surface 
above  the  roots.  This  is  to  prevent  scorching 
by  the  direct  ra^^s  of  the  sun,  as  well  as  to  con- 
serve all  the  moisture  possible — for  evergreens 
generally  are  planted  in  August,  when  the  sun 
is  hot. 

Transplanting 

Of  course  all  planting  is  transplanting,  in  one 
sense;  yet  we  ordinarily  consider  the  speci- 
mens which  are  shipped  to  a  place  from  a  nur- 
sery as  "planted"  only,  while  local  growth  is 
regarded  as  "transplanted."  Hence  the  oppor- 
tunity which  this  transplanting  affords  is  my 
only  one  to  say  anything  about  the  uprooting  of 
a  tree,  shrub,  or  other  specimen,  although  it  is 
quite  as  essential  an  element  of  successful  gar- 
dening to  know  how  to  unplant  as  it  is  to  know 
how  to  plant. 


130  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

Patience  is  the  greatest  of  virtues,  and  most 
virtuous  of  handmaidens  in  all  gardening — but 
nowhere  so  necessary  as  here.  Yet  nowhere  is 
she  so  likely  to  elude  the  gardener  as  w^hen  he 
stands,  anxious  and  eager  and  bafHed  and  per- 
spiring, before  the  feeble  plant  which  he  is  bent 
on  transferring  to  another  spot,  and  which  is 
equally  bent,  in  its  own  inert  plant  way,  on 
staying  where  it  is.  Clutching  the  earth  fran- 
tically, but  secretly,  it  refuses  to  be  budged — 
and  the  struggle  is  one  surely  calculated  to  make 
or  break  character.  The  one  hope  of  the  toiler 
is  to  take  time,  thereby  retaining  patience — but 
even  then  it  is  a  fierce  trial  more  often  than  not. 
I  am  saying  all  this  that  you  may  be  prepared — 
fully  prepared — and  hence  may  approach  the 
task  warily  and  with  a  chance  of  victory,  moral 
as  well  as  physical.  For  the  man  who  has  never 
tried  to  unplant  an  established  growth,  and  who 
attacks  the  proposition  unw^arned  and  unsus- 
pecting, needs  sympathy — and  has  mine. 

Begin  at  the  tip  of  the  roots;  that  is,  begin 
taking  off  the  earth  at  the  circumference  of  the 
plant's  circle  rather  than  at  its  center.  This  cir- 
cumference can  be  pretty  accurately  determined 
by  the  spread  of  the  branches,  for  these  usually 
reach  outward  above  ground  about  as  far  as  the 
roots  do  below.    A  crowbar  or  pickax  should 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE      131 

be  used  to  loosen  the  soil,  with  interludes  of  re- 
moving this  with  spade  or  shovel.  Work  always 
sidewise  to  the  plant  and  parallel  with  the  line 
of  root  growth;  which  is  of  course,  generally 
speaking,  outward  from  the  center  like  the 
spokes  of  a  wheel;  or  else  work  with  back  to  the 
plant,  until  the  root  tips  have  been  uncovered 
anyway.  This  avoids  cutting  across  the  roots 
and  saves  a  much  greater  percentage  of  them 
than  the  more  careless  method  of  working 
around  the  plant,  facing  it. 

Gradually  its  hold  may  be  loosened  by  tip- 
ping it  forward  and  back  and  lifting  on  it 
gently,  as  the  soil  is  continually  picked  apart 
and  scraped  away  from  between  and  beneath 
the  roots.  Follow  all  long  roots  away  and  down 
as  far  as  may  be  necessary  to  free  their  tips, 
and  never  yank  at  the  plant  or  use  violence 
to  liberate  it.  A  strong,  steady  pull,  with  per- 
sistent loosening  of  the  earth  where  the  strain 
shows  its  hold  to  be  strongest,  will  bring  the 
tenderest  root  fibers  out  uninjured,  whereas  a 
quick  jerk  will  snap  even  great  woody  growths 
in  two. 

Once  out  of  the  ground,  root  pruning  and  top 
pruning,  as  already  directed,  should  be  per- 
formed; and  immediate  replanting  is  of  course 
most  desirable.    If  this  is  not  possible  for  any 


132  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

reason,  put  the  plant  in  a  shady  place  out  of 
the  wind  and  cover  the  roots  with  enough  earth 
to  prevent  their  drying  out.  Thus  heeled  in  a 
thing  may  lay  for  days  without  suffering. 


Pruning 

Only  generalities  may  be  given  here,  for  this 
is  a  subject  which  grows  somewhat  compli- 
cated as  one  goes  into  its  special  phases;  hence 
it  requires  special  treatment.  Probably  the  one 
thing  which  needs  saying  most  emphatically 
and  reiterating  again  and  again  with  regard  to 
pruning  is : — do  not  prune  at  all  unless  you  know 
exactly  why  you  are  doing  it  and  exactly  how 
to  do  it  for  that  particular  purpose.  Nature 
herself  will  attend  to  a  good  bit  of  this  work  and 
with  far  better  effect  than  man,  misguided. 

Very  little  pruning  should  ever  be  necessary 
in  the  case  of  ordinary  trees  and  shrubs.  Leave 
them  to  grow  in  their  own  way,  removing  only 
dead  or  injured  wood  in  the  spring,  when  failure 
to  make  leaf  growth  reveals  this  to  you;  thus 
the  true  character  and  beauty  of  each  kind  of 
tree  or  shrub  will  develop  unhampered.  Rub  off 
the  little  adventitious  buds  which  appear  on 
the  trunks  of  trees  as  soon  as  they  appear, 
never  letting  sprouts  grow  either  along  a  trunk 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE      133 

or  at  its  base.  These  are  robbers,  for  they  are 
always  of  rank,  lush  growth  that  takes  up  more 
of  the  tree  food  on  its  way  to  the  leaves  and 
branches  above  than  would  seem  possible. 

There  are  two  principles  involved  in  pruning 
which  must  be  understood  and  remembered,  if 
the  work  is  to  be  done  intelligently.  These  are 
fixed  by  the  system  of  growth  common  to  all 
plants — that  is,  growth  at  the  tips  or  extremi- 
ties. Branches  lengthen,  branchlets  lengthen, 
and  new  branches  form  always  by  means  of 
terminal  or  tip  buds,  and  all  growth  is  invari- 
ably carried  on  in  this  way.  The  run  of  sap  is 
always  to  the  plant's  remotest  part,  and  inter- 
mediate growth  is  taken  care  of  incidentally 
rather  than  primarily.  If  a  terminal  bud  is 
injured  or  destroyed,  therefore,  the  sap,  coming 
strong  and  full  to  the  point  where  it  was,  stimu- 
lates the  buds  next  below  it  into  abnormal  ac- 
tivity and  these  make  haste  to  rush  out  into 
branches,  each  striving  for  the  place  of  leader 
until  one  finally  does  gain  an  advantage  which 
nips  the  others  because  it  then  appropriates  the 
leader's  share  of  nourishment. 

Removal  of  terminal  buds,  therefore,  will  al- 
ways thicken  growth  rather  than  thin  it;  so  in 
pruning  to  thin  out  remember  that  it  is  not 
enough  to  do  less  than  remove  an  entire  branch 


134  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

at  the  point  where  it  rises.  On  the  other  hand, 
where  heavier  growth  is  desired,  tips  only  should 
be  cut  away,  thus  inducing  many  branches. 
Cut  down  to  the  point  whence  you  wish  the 
thicker  growth  to  spring,  for  it  is  always  from 
near  the  ends  of  the  stubs  that  the  branches 
will  put  forth;  and  prune  always  just  above 
outstanding  buds,  to  insure  open  growth  and 
free  center. 

The  best  time  for  pruning  generally  is  when 
activity  is  at  the  highest  point,  but  before 
growth  has  advanced  sufficiently  to  cause  waste 
through  sacrificing  it — hence  in  the  spring,  just 
as  buds  are  bursting  or  about  to  burst.  Wounds 
made  at  this  time  quickly  heal,  and  the  full 
effect  of  pruning  for  thicker  growth  is  immedi- 
ately gained.  Spring  flowering  shrubs  should 
not  be  pruned,  however,  until  after  they  have 
finished  blooming,  otherwise  their  bloom  will 
be  lost. 

This  matter  of  the  healing  of  wounds  is  a  most 
important  one — as  important  to  a  tree  as  to  a 
man.  For  an  unhealed  wound  is  an  invitation 
to  disease  which  may  ultimately  destroy  the 
plant,  more  especially  if  it  happens  to  be  a  tree. 
But  in  spite  of  all  that  has  been  said  and  written 
with  regard  to  the  amputation  of  branches  from 
trees,  practically  every  community  shows  scores 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE     135 

of  freshly  made  improper  cuts.  Why  it  is  that 
most  people  seem  unable  to  bring  themselves  to 
cut  through  a  limb  at  its  very  base,  clean  down 
at  the  trunk  from  which  it  springs,  I  cannot  im- 
agine; but  for  one  tree  properly  pruned  by  such 
close  cutting  there  are  fifty,  perhaps  twice  that 
number,  showing  unhealed  stumps  all  the  way 
from  half  an  inch  to  four  or  five  inches  long. 

There  is  just  one  right  way  to  cut  a  branch, 
large  or  small,  from  another  branch  or  trunk; 
that  is,  to  lay  the  saw  which  is  to  do  the  cutting, 
flat  against  the  trunk,  and  thus  make  a  cut  so 
close  that  practically  all  traces  of  the  branch 
removed  are  smoothed  away.  Such  a  wound 
will  be  larger  around  than  we  are  accustomed  to 
see,  to  be  sure,  but  its  diameter  is  of  no  real 
consequence.  The  point  is  to  make  its  surface 
so  flat  and  smooth  and  easily  covered  that  the 
bark — or  skin — will  quickly  grow  over  it;  and 
this  it  will  often  do  in  an  incredibly  short  time, 
leaving  sometimes  a  hardly  perceptible  scar. 

Insects  and  Pests 
The  San  Jose  scale  is  now  so  common  that  pre- 
ventive measures  are  advisable  even  though  its 
presence  is  not  actually  discovered  on  one's  own 
trees  and  shrubs.  The  lime-sulphur  wash  or 
the  kerosene  emulsion,  both  of  which  may  be 


136  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

purchased  ready  prepared  and  diluted  and  ap- 
plied according  to  directions  which  come  with 
them,  are  the  most  satisfactory  and  efTective 
remedies  for  holding  the  scale  in  check.  The 
fact  that  the  former  is  a  fungicide  as  well  as  an 
insecticide  makes  it  doubly  valuable.  Neither 
should  be  used  excepting  on  absolutely  dormant 
vegetation,  however,  for  they  may  injure  soft- 
growing  parts  irreparably. 

Either  will  prove  perfectly  satisfactory,  how- 
ever, if  used  carefully  according  to  the  instruc- 
tions. And  I  prefer  to  use  a  fungicide  as  well  as 
an  insecticide  whenever  possible,  for  fungi  are 
more  subtle  and  less  easy  to  conquer  than  any 
insect.  Of  course  bordeaux  mixture  may  be 
added  to  all  insect  sprays,  but  this  is  usually 
done  later  in  summer  when  vegetation  is  in  full 
leaf.  For  all  fungous  diseases  it  is  the  early  and 
constant  preventive  treatment  that  counts. 
There  is  really  nothing  that  can  be  done,  once  a 
disease  is  established  within  a  plant's  tissues. 

Scale  insects  are  likely  to  escape  attention 
unless  one  is  on  the  lookout  for  them ;  but  w^orms 
and  plant  lice  are  unpleasantly  in  evidence 
whenever  they  are  present,  hence  they  need  not 
be  treated  unless  actually  seen.  A  common  soap 
spray  will  make  short  work  of  the  latter,  pro- 
viding it  reaches  them  all.    It  may  have  to  be 


J 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE      137 

used  with  great  persistence  to  get  rid  of  them 
all,  however,  for  they  multiply  with  fearful 
rapidity  and  each  one  must  be  drenched  with 
the  liquid  in  order  to  exterminate  them.  For 
these  belong  to  the  same  general  class  as  the 
scale  insects — the  class  which  feeds  on  the  plant's 
juices  rather  than  on  its  tissues,  and  cannot 
therefore  be  poisoned  directly,  but  only  by 
contact. 

Use  one-quarter  of  a  cake  of  any  common 
laundry  soap  to  four  gallons  of  water,  dissolving 
by  heat  and  applying  hot  and  on  successive  days 
until  none  of  the  insects  alive  are  to  be  found. 
Leaves  curling  down  or  back  are  a  pretty  sure 
sign  of  their  presence,  for  they  infest  the  under 
side,  which,  drying  out  under  their  persistent 
little  bills,  shrinks  and  rolls  back.  Worms,  on 
the  contrary,  eat  plant  tissue  always,  hence  may 
be  poisoned  directly.  For  these  arsenate  of  lead 
is  preferable  to  paris  green  or  any  other  direct 
poison;  it  comes  in  prepared  forms. 

Directions  for  the  use  of  sprays  and  poisons 
of  all  kinds  should  always  be  followed  scrupu- 
lously, both  as  to  proportion  to  be  used  and 
the  time  to  do  the  work  of  applying;  for  even 
a  day  or  two  earlier  or  later  than  the  stipulated 
time  may  make  all  the  difference  between  suc- 
cess and  failure  in  combating  any  particular 


138  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

pest,  while  lack  of  care  in  apportioning  a  poison 
may  mean  the  loss  of  an  entire  year's  growth 
at  least,  if  not  death  to  the  plant  so  injured. 

There  is  one  insect  which  I  must  particularly 
say  a  word  for,  while  I  am  on  the  subject,  how- 
ever; that  is  the  bee.  There  are  no  better 
servants  in  the  garden  than  these  velvet-clad 
little  pages,  and  their  liberty  to  go  and  come 
unharmed  should  always  be  assured.  Without 
them  we  should  have  very  little  fruit  and  few 
vegetables,  and  it  is  a  cruel  mistake  to  sup- 
pose that  it  is  the  bees'  visits  to  a  flower  that 
cause  it  to  fade.  The  bees  are  attracted  when 
the  pollen  is  ripe  because  they  are  needed  then 
to  transfer  it  from  flower  to  flower.  As  soon 
as  pollen  is  ripe  and  falls,  the  petals  fall,  for 
then  the  flowers'  work  is  done  and  the  forma- 
tion of  fruit  is  assured.  So  it  is  coincident  with 
the  bee's  visit  that  the  petals  fall,  or  immedi- 
ately following  it;  but  the  visit  itself  neither 
hastens  this  nor  affects  the  life  of  the  flower  in 
the  least.  Do  not  try  to  drive  away  or  destroy 
honey  bees,  therefore — as  I  have  known  some 
to  advocate. 

Fertilizers 

Never  use  a  fertilizer  because  it  has  benefited 
someone  else's  garden;   it  may  not  be  good  for 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE     139 

yours  at  all.  Generally  speaking,  we  put  too 
much  faith  in  fertilizers  and  too  little  in  good 
care;  and  many  a  garden  starves  for  lack  of 
the  tillage  which  would  conserve  moisture  and 
so  make  available  the  plant  food  with  which 
the  soil  is  loaded,  rather  than  for  lack  of  the 
food  itself.  What  is  called  a  complete  fertihzer, 
however,  which  simply  means  a  fertilizer  com- 
bination consisting  of  the  three  principal  fertil- 
izer elements  in  the  proportion  of  one  part 
nitrogen,  two  parts  phosphoric  acid,  and  three 
parts  potash,  may  usually  be  used  on  ordinary 
soil  to  the  garden's  advantage.  Fancy  mixtures 
and  wonder  workers,  however,  are  a  waste  of 
time  and  money — and  faith. 

In  addition  to  fertilizer,  or  rather  as  a  pre- 
liminary treatment,  sour  soils  need  lime.  Heavy 
soils  are  lightened  by  it,  too,  and  as  sour  soils 
are  invariably  heavy,  it  serves  a  double  pur- 
pose when  applied  to  these.  It  changes  the 
soil  in  such  a  way  that  the  plant  food  in  it  is 
more  readily  taken  up.  Coal  ashes  are  excel- 
lent to  mix  with  earth  that  is  sticky  and  heavy 
or  stiff  and  cold,  though  they  have  no  fertilizing 
value.  But  they  lighten  such  soils  and  make 
them  friable  and  more  gracious.  Stable  manure 
is  as  good  as  any  fertilizer  that  can  be  obtained, 
wherever  it  may  be  turned  into  the  ground  by 


140  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

spading;  but  never  use  it  on  a  lawn  under  any 
circumstances,  for  the  weed  seeds  which  it  con- 
tains will  work  more  ruin  in  a  single  season  than 
can  be  undone  in  many,  if  ever.  Sheep  manure 
only  is  suitable  for  lawn  fertilizer;  stable  ma- 
nure is  fit  only  for  the  garden,  where  it  can  be 
used  literally  in  the  earth. 

Lawns 

The  growth  of  a  thick  rich  turf  carpet  is 
never  a  matter  of  exceptional  soil  nor  of  much 
enriching;  rather  it  is  a  matter  of  careful  me- 
chanical preparation  of  the  soil  in  the  first 
place,  of  selection  of  proper  seed  to  suit  the 
peculiarities  of  the  site,  if  it  have  peculiarities, 
in  the  second,  and  of  proper  care  third  and 
finally.  Nothing  can  be  done  with  subsoil  ex- 
cavated from  the  house  cellar  and  piled  upon 
top  of  the  good  top  soil  in  grading  after  build- 
ing operations  are  completed;  on  the  other 
hand,  very  rich  soil  is  as  likely  to  be  a  disad- 
vantage as  not,  in  that  it  stimulates  to  so  rapid 
a  growth  that  there  is  not  sufiicient  root  de- 
velopment to  withstand  drought.  But  any  or- 
dinary soil,  even  a  poor  soil,  offers  opportunity 
for  as  fine  a  lawn  as  one  could  wish,  if  a  proper 
start  is  made. 


PLANTING  AND  MAINTENANCE      141 

Whatever  the  conditions,  deep  working  is  the 
first  step,  with  an  appHcation  of  Hme  anywhere 
except  in  a  limestone  region.  Allow  from  sixty 
to  sixty -five  pounds  to  a  plot  25  by  100  feet  in 
size.  When  the  general  surface  has  been  leveled 
after  working  over  to  a  depth  of  eight  or  ten 
inches  or  even  more,  seed  freely,  using  only  seed 
from  the  highest  grade  nursery  or  seedman. 
Buy  always  by  weight,  never  by  dry  measure; 
and  get  the  selected,  recleaned  seed.  It  costs 
more  than  the  chaff  and  sweepings  which  make 
up  the  cheaper  grades,  but  it  is  more  than  worth 
the  difference.  Allow  between  six  and  seven 
pounds  for  a  space  25  by  100  feet. 

The  six  weeks  from  the  beginning  of  April  on 
are  usually  the  best  for  sowing  a  new  lawn,  al- 
though fall  sowing  is  a  great  advantage  if  one 
can  be  ready  for  it  by  the  end  of  September. 
Within  five  or  six  weeks  from  the  time  of  sowing, 
if  this  is  done  in  the  spring,  the  first  clipping 
should  be  done,  providing  all  conditions  have 
been  favorable.  This  seems  very  soon  perhaps, 
but  it  is  this  early  cutting  which  helps  to  make 
a  dense  and  compact  stand  eventually. 

Grass  should  never  be  cut  shorter  than  two 
inches  on  either  new  or  old  lawns,  for  its  roots 
are  left  unprotected  from  the  scorching  sun 
when  it  is  shorter  than  this,  and  this  means  that 


142  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

dry  weather  or  very  hot  will  burn  it  sere  and 
brown.  Mow  often,  even  as  often  as  every 
fourth  or  fifth  day  if  necessary  to  keep  at  this 
height,  especially  on  a  new  lawn;  and  never 
rake  away  the  clippings.  They  form  the  best 
possible  mulch  and  fertilizer,  and  are  so  short 
when  mowing  is  done  as  often  and  as  regularly 
as  it  should  be  that  they  sift  down  among  the 
standing  grass  immediately  and  are  lost  to  sight. 
Reseed  all  bare  spots  every  spring  and  take  out 
weeds  as  fast  as  they  appear,  peppering  with 
seed  the  space  which  is  thus  left  bare,  what- 
ever the  season.  This  is  the  sort  of  care  and 
watchfulness  that  achieves  perfection  with  the 
minimum  of  labor,  promptness  being  its  chief 
feature. 


PART  II 

Concerned  with  Nature's  Contribution 


143 


"I  think  that  I  shall  never  see 
A  poem  lovely  as  a  tree. 

*'A  tree  whose  hungry  mouth  is  pressed 
Against  the  earth's  sweet,  flowing  breast; 

*'A  tree  that  looks  at  God  all  day 
And  lifts  her  leafy  arms  to  pray; 

"A  tree  that  may  in  summer  wear 
A  nest  of  robins  in  her  hair; 

*'Upon  whose  bosom  snow  has  lain; 
Who  intimately  lives  with  rain. 

"Poems  are  made  by  fools  like  me. 
But  only  God  can  make  a  tree." 

— Trees — Joyce  Kilmer. 

CHAPTER  X 

Trees  and  Their  Purpose 

MOST  permanent  of  vegetable  forms,  trees 
demand  our  first  consideration  when  plans 
have  progressed  far  enough  to  let  us  think  about 
the  actual  planting  of  the  garden;  for  all  its 
animate  and  growing  features  depend  upon 
whether  the  decision  is  for  or  against  trees — and 
upon  the  placing  of  them  if  it  is  the  former. 
It  seems  contrary  to  almost  sacred  tradition  to 
145 


146  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

say  a  word  which  may  be  interpreted  as  actu- 
ally against  the  use  of  trees;  yet  I  feel  that  I 
muot  warn  the  owner  of  the  small  place  in  the 
very  beginning  that  there  is  a  possibility  of  the 
negative  decision  being  better  in  his  particular 
case.  Such  a  place  has  its  opportunities  at  best 
only  through  the  most  careful  conservation  of 
its  restricted  spaces;  hence  trees  very  easily 
may  become  an  extravagance  in  that  they  use 
up  more,  proportionately,  than  they  give.  A 
very  delicate  balance  between  all  the  parts  and 
features  of  such  a  garden  must  be  established 
and  maintained,  if  its  greatest  and  best  oppor- 
tunities are  to  be  realized. 

But  this  hardly  means  that  there  shall  not 
be  a  single  tree;  rather  it  means  that  often 
there  shall  be  no  more  than  a  single  tree — and 
that  there  shall  never  be  many  trees  on  the 
typical  suburban  place.  For  if  there  are  many 
there  can  be  nothing  else.  Trees  are  exacting 
both  above  and  below  ground — as  becomes  their 
importance  and  dignity — and  the  lesser  growth 
must  wait  on  them  and  keep  its  distance,  with 
few  exceptions.  Which  is  another  proof,  if  an- 
other were  needed,  of  the  folly  of  attempting  to 
plan  a  small  place  in  the  landscape  style.  For 
the  things  which,  like  trees,  are  essentially  of 
the  landscape,  and  essential  to  a  landscape  gar- 


TREES  AND  THEIR  PURPOSE        147 

den,  cannot  in  close  quarters  take  the  place  in 
perspective  which  should  be  theirs.  They  will 
always  overshadow  on  a  small  place — literally 
as  well  as  figuratively — the  entire  conception, 
if  an  attempt  is  made  to  introduce  them  in  num- 
bers and  in  a  natural  arrangement. 

It  is  not  trees  in  the  aggregate  and  in  their 
sublime  forest  aspect,  therefore,  that  we  may 
consider  here;  but  trees  as  individuals  and  in 
the  closest  domestic  relation.  So  the  first  ques- 
tion, naturally,  will  have  to  do  with  that  rela- 
tion. What  is  it  to  be — the  purely  polite  and 
aesthetic,  or  the  practical  and  utilitarian  .^^  In 
other  words,  shall  the  selection  be  for  shade 
and  ornament,  or  for  fruit? 

This  is  another  of  those  questions  which  per- 
sonal preference  must  decide.  Almost  any  fruit 
tree,  excepting  the  apple,  may  be  used  with 
quite  as  good  effect  pictorially  anywhere  as  an 
ornamental  tree.  The  apple  alone,  as  usually 
grown,  is  too  irregular  in  its  form  to  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  formal  environment  of  a  small 
garden.  It  is  something  of  an  effort  to  wrench 
the  mind  free  from  traditional  shade  trees,  how- 
ever, and  as  yet  there  are  not  many  small  gar- 
den examples  to  show  the  possibilities  of  such 
emancipation,  or  to  furnish  encouragement  to 
the  uncertain. 


148  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

All  town  streets  will  of  course  always  be 
planted  with  ornamental  trees,  quite  properly; 
but  for  all  those  small  gardens  where  trees  are 
possible,  I  cannot  feel  that  the  purely  orna- 
mental are  quite  as  suitable,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  as  the  more  truly  domestic  trees  which 
have  companied  with  man  so  many  ages.  The 
latter  suit  his  immediate  environment  more 
completely,  consequently  they  suit  the  very  ar- 
tificial conditions  which  his  presence  en  masse 
creates,  very  much  better  than  oaks  and  elms, 
beeches  and  hickorys,  and  all  the  forest  royal- 
ties possibly  can.  However  strange  it  may 
seem  to  us  at  first  to  think  of  using  fruit  trees 
altogether,  there  is,  too,  most  ancient  and  ex- 
cellent precedent  for  them  rather  than  orna- 
mental trees,  in  such  planting.  Indeed  our 
present  practice  is  very  modern — almost  wholly 
of  to-day — and  prevails  only  where  man  has 
not  yet  learned  values  and  where  proportions 
are  distorted. 

But  whatever  the  choice,  the  first  and  most 
important  thing  to  be  settled  about  a  tree,  on 
small  grounds  especially,  is  its  location.  This 
is  influenced  by  several  things,  some  with  an 
elusive  tendency  to  wait  until  the  tree  planter 
has  done  his  work  before  presenting  themselves. 
The  thought  of  shade  and  inviting  summer  cool- 


TREES  AND  THEIR  PURPOSE        149 

ness  is  probably  uppermost,  for  one  thing,  when 
trees  are  being  considered,  which  is  quite  right 
and  natural.  But  the  maximum  shadow  and 
shelter  from  sun  and  heat  are  not  by  any  means 
always  attained  in  the  way  that  seems  most 
likely  at  first  thought.  For  the  impulse  is  usu- 
ally to  shade  the  dwelling;  whereas  it  is  the 
earth  from  which  heat  is  reflected  into  the 
dwelhng  that  should  be  shaded,  rather  than  the 
building. 

Shutters  will  provide  for  the  house  itself, 
its  windows  and  doors,  infinitely  better  protec- 
tion from  the  sun  than  trees  can  give,  for  shut- 
ters admit  every  vagrant  breeze,  however  in- 
dolent and  languid  it  may  be,  while  leafy 
branches  deflect  and  break  up  even  valiant  at- 
tempts of  the  wind  to  a  considerable  degree. 
The  right  position  for  a  tree  is  far  enough  from 
the  house  to  admit  the  air,  therefore,  but  near 
enough  to  shade  the  ground  about  it  where 
otherwise  the  sun  would  beat  with  its  fiercest 
heat  during  the  hottest  hours  of  the  day — a 
position  which  is  best  determined  usually  out 
of  doors,  on  the  ground  itself,  at  midday,  rather 
than  on  a  plan. 

Almost  any  upright  object  will  serve  as  a 
guide  to  the  shadow's  direction,  which  is  the 
main  thing  to  know.     One's  own  shadow  will 


150  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

show  this,  of  course,  but  as  it  is  sometimes 
necessary  to  get  some  distance  away  in  order 
to  calculate  various  phases  of  the  effect,  it  will 
be  found  more  expeditious  to  use  a  stake  five 
feet  or  more  long,  instead  of  to  rely  on  this. 
Such  a  stake,  representing  the  bole  or  main 
trunk  of  a  tree,  will  give  the  middle  of  its 
shadow  and  will  at  the  same  time  show  the 
tree's  position  definitely  in  its  perspective  rela- 
tion to  windows  and  the  house  generally,  thus 
indicating  its  possible  effect  on  air  currents. 

The  maximum  heat  of  the  day  during  the 
heated  period  is  usually  between  eleven  and 
three  o'clock — hence  it  is  the  Kne  of  shadow 
between  these  hours  that  should  be  thrown  on 
the  midst  of  the  area  that  it  is  desired  to  shade. 
But  the  other  sultry  hours  need  not  be  uncon- 
sidered by  any  means;  and  often  a  tree  may 
be  so  placed  that  it  will  afford  much  more 
protection  than  seems  possible,  or  than  would 
be  possible  if  its  shadow  were  required  over  a 
porch  or  door  or  window.  The  shadow,  of 
course,  travels  around  the  tree;  it  best  serves 
our  purpose  when  the  tree  is  so  placed  that  it 
travels  in  the  general  direction  of  the  expanse 
which  we  wish  to  shade. 

The  kinds  of  ornamental  tree  from  which 
choice  may  be  made  for  the  type  of  place  to 


No  worthier  motif  than  a  tree  can  be  found  to  inspire  a 
feature  that  shall  distinguish  the  garden,  for  the  importance 
of  a  tree  within  the  garden  invariably  demands  emphasis 


TREES  AND  THEIR  PURPOSE        151 

which  we  are  confining  ourselves  are  not  so 
many  that  there  need  be  difficulty  in  choosing. 
The  picturesque  cannot  be  admitted,  consist- 
ently; only  trees  of  orderly  growth — the  well- 
behaved,  conventional,  and  seemly  members  of 
the  tree  race — will  look  at  home  and  harmonize 
with  the  sharply  defined  limits  of  suburban  cul- 
tivation. Curiously  enough,  although  we  have 
many  native  to  this  continent  which,  properly 
grown,  would  fulfill  these  requirements,  exotics 
are  largely  used  where  small  trees  are  desired, 
Japan  and  China  furnishing  the  most  of  them. 
There  seems  to  be  no  goodreason  for  this  ex- 
cept the  fact  that  the  trees  of  Japan  are  re- 
markably free  from  annoying  blights;  and  that 
our  insects  do  not  seem  to  relish  them  as  well 
as,  they  do  home-grown  provender — two  advan- 
tages that  make  them  highly  desirable  for  the 
ordinary  garden,  without  doubt. 

Still  I  do  not  feel  that  we  should  neglect  the 
material  which  is  at  hand  when  much  of  it  is 
of  such  fine  quality  and  rare  beauty — and  no 
more  susceptible  to  blights  and  bugs  than  the 
Japanese  stock.  And  I  have  made  it  a  rule  not 
to  use  exotics  when  native  growth  that  would 
serve  as  well  was  obtainable.  Many  times  it  is 
not  to  be  had,  however,  for  few  nurserymen 
will  work  with  native  trees  as  they  will  with 


152  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

foreign — or  as  the  nurserymen  of  Japan  have 
worked  to  attain  the  superlative  merit  with 
their  native  material  which  there  is  no  denying 
it  possesses.  We  do  not  know,  as  a  consequence, 
what  possibilities  we  may  have  here. 

There  is,  however,  the  hop  tree  or  wafer  ash 
— Ptelea  trifoliata — less  than  twenty-five  feet  in 
height  often,  never  more,  neat  and  clean  cut; 
the  mountain  ash — Sorbus  Americana — evenly 
round  headed  and  trim,  reaching  thirty  feet 
and  having  great  clusters  of  scarlet  berries 
gleaming  among  its  green  in  late  summer  and 
autumn;  the  shadbush  or  service  berry — Ame- 
lanchier  Canadensis,  also  Amelanchier  Botryap- 
ium — the  former  sometimes  reaching  fifty  feet, 
the  latter  stopping  at  twenty-five  or  thirty;  the 
cock-spur  thorn — Crataegus  Crus-galli — twenty- 
five  feet  tall,  and  carrying  dull  red  fruits  all 
winter;  and  the  fringe  tree — Chionanthus  Vir- 
ginica — twenty  to  thirty  feet  high  and  branch- 
ing low  on  its  trunk,  yet  nevertheless  a  tree  and 
not  a  shrub.  Then  there  are  the  two  small 
maples — Acer  spicatum  and  Acer  Pennsylvani- 
cum — the  mountain  maple  and  the  moosewood 
or  striped  maple,  the  first  rather  bushy  and 
about  thirty  feet  in  height,  the  second  short  of 
trunk  but  less  bushy  and  forty  feet  high;  all 
these  at  least  are  available  and  are  very  gen- 


TREES  AND  THEIR  PURPOSE        153 

erally  carried  by  first-class  nurseries  now.  And 
finally,  at  the  end  of  the  list  so  that  it  may 
never  be  overlooked  or  forgotten,  our  peerless 
dogwood,  the  tree  that  is  unrivaled  by  any  other 
flowering  tree  in  the  world — Cornus  fiorida. 

With  this  array  does  it  not  truly  seem  that 
there  is  very  little  reason  or  excuse  for  going 
beyond  our  own  boundaries  for  small  trees  with 
which  to  furnish  our  most  diminutive  gardens? 
It  is  only  a  matter  of  knowing  and  choosing 
right — and  of  being  a  little  less  ardent  in  the 
pursuit  of  novelty. 

Just  why  trees  or  shrubs  which  have  foliage 
which  is  abnormal  in  one  way  or  another  should 
appeal  so  strongly  to  popular  fancy  has  always 
been  a  problem  beyond  explanation  or  solution. 
I  suppose  it  may  be  for  the  same  reason  that 
human  and  animal  freaks  in  the  circus  side- 
show draw;  just  one  of  those  twists  in  human 
nature  that  cannot  be  accounted  for.  But  even 
those  of  us  who  love  to  shiver  at  the  sight  of 
monstrosities  would  hardly  be  willing  to  keep 
company  with  them  day  in  and  day  out  and 
have  them  perpetually  before  us.  Why,  then, 
are  we  willing  to  tolerate,  and  eager  to  acquire 
for  our  own,  similar  variations  from  the  type 
in  the  vegetable  world. ^^  Only  because  we  do 
not  quite  realize  the  truth  about  these  varia- 


154  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

tions  probably,  hence  do  not  appreciate  what 
we  are  inflicting  upon  ourselves  and  upon  our 
neighbors. 

All  of  which  is  apropos  of  the  craze  for  vari- 
colored foliage,  for  the  golden  this  and  the  silver 
that — and  the  blue  spruce.  Growing  in  the  lit- 
tle groves  of  its  kind  as  Nature  scatters  it,  or 
here  and  there  on  the  banks  of  western  streams, 
this  tree  is  an  interesting,  beautiful  and  attrac- 
tive species;  but  brought  into  the  dooryard  and 
set  down  under  the  windows  it  is  almost  invari- 
ably out  of  key  with  everything  in  sight.  And 
so  far  from  being  impressive  after  its  youth  is 
past,  its  symmetrical  beauty  of  form  is  early 
lost  and  it  becomes  ugly  and  unsightly. 

Be  sure  that  the  normal  type  of  vegetation 
is  the  only  safe  type  to  plant — safe  because  per- 
manent, and  truly  beautiful  because  normal;  do 
not  let  the  promises  of  any  person,  interested  or 
disinterested,  avail  to  break  a  resolution  to  stick 
to  this.  WTien  in  doubt  about  anything,  or  al- 
most persuaded,  yet  not  certain  of  the  effect  that 
will  result,  do  not  buy.  Test  the  fitness  of  every 
specimen  introduced  by  the  good  stiff  test  of 
logic  and  common  sense. 

It  is  with  the  adornment  of  outdoors  precisely 
the  same  as  with  the  adornment  of  indoors; 
deep,  quiet  tones  extend  lines  and  distances  as 


TREES  AND  THEIR  PURPOSE        155 

well  as  produce  an  effect  that  is  full  of  repose, 
permanent  and  restful.  Masses  do  the  same, 
as  opposed  to  the  nervousness  of  scattered  treat- 
ment and  its  consequent  clutter. 

Just  as  a  room  with  plenty  of  simple,  broad, 
unornamented  spaces  is  refreshing  and  like  a 
tonic  after  an  interval  spent  in  the  curio-col- 
lection type  of  apartment,  so  is  a  garden  free 
from  all  bizarre  effects  when  contrasted  with 
the  nurseries  of  vegetable  color  marvels  which 
some  are  deluded  into  planting.  Purple  forms 
of  beech  tree  and  barberry  bush  are  practically 
the  only  variations  from  typical  foliage  color 
which  are  tolerable;  these  two  are  indeed  very 
beautiful  in  the  right  place,  as  a  matter  of  fact. 
But  remember  that  restraint  is  always  safer  than 
extravagance,  and  that  the  small  garden  is  per- 
force denied  many  things  which  a  larger  place 
may  indulge. 


'In  winter,  when  the  dismal  rain 

Comes  down  in  slanting  lines, 
And  Wind,  that  grand  old  harper,  smote 

His  thunder-harp  of  pines." 

— A  Life  Drama — Alexander  Smith. 


CHAPTER  XI 

The  Use  and  Abuse  of  Evergreens 

WITH  the  desire  to  maintain  cheer  of  living 
green  around  the  home  during  the  winter 
I  wish  to  say  at  once  that  I  sympathize  wholly, 
inasmuch  as  I  shall  appear  to  be,  for  a  little  at 
least,  opposed  to  what  very  evidently  seems  to 
great  numbers  of  people  the  only  way  of  secur- 
ing what  they  want.  Bear  with  me  however, 
and  let  us  see  if  there  are  not  better  ways  than 
the  common  practice  of  misusing  infant  ever- 
greens, to  this  end. 

For  that  is  all  that  the  most  of  the  small  ever- 
greens we  see  used  in  massing  around  buildings, 
are — small  because  young  and  not  grown.  And 
they  are  not,  of  course,  shrubs,  though  some  per- 
sons call  them  shrubs  when  urging  that  they  be 
grouped  against  the  foundations  of  a  building 
156 


USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  EVERGREENS   157 

for  winter  effect.  But  a  shrub  is  a  distinct  kind 
of  growth;  never  the  immature  form  of  any 
tree.  And  because  there  are  true  evergreen 
shrubs  it  would  seem  that  we  should  be  careful 
and  not  misapply  the  word  to  young  cone  bear- 
ing trees — otherwise  trees  of  the  great  botanical 
order  Coniferce, 

To  come  at  once  at  the  heart  of  this  misappli- 
cation and  misuse,  I  contend  that,  whatever  its 
size  may  be  when  it  is  set  out,  a  tree  is  a  tree 
for  all  that — hence  to  be  situated  as  a  tree  and 
not  as  a  shrub.  That  is  the  first  point.  The 
second  is  that  the  individuality  of  each  kind  of 
cone-bearer  is  so  distinct,  so  positive,  so  assertive 
that  we  should  recognize  the  futility  of  any  at- 
tempt to  bring  it  into  harmonious  relation  with 
other  kinds,  under  a  system  of  grouping  such 
as  we  find  so  effective  when  we  deal  with  shrubs 
or  even  with  certain  deciduous  trees.  Ever- 
greens indeed  belong  to  a  totally  different  class 
of  vegetation  from  any  other  and  demand  to  be 
thought  of  differently  and  to  be  used  under  a 
different  concept;  in  which  connection  it  may 
be  interesting  to  say  that  they  are  regarded  by 
some  authorities  on  plant  biology  as  a  really 
passing  race. 

That  is,  they  belong  with  a  past  age — are 
the  remnants  of  it  perhaps — and  show  now,  to 


158  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

those  who  understand,  the  characteristics  of 
their  struggle  to  survive  the  changed  conditions 
of  the  present  and  a  certain  desperate  effort  to 
adapt  themselves  and  thus  to  escape  extinction. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  there  have  been 
mighty  groups  of  animals,  of  men,  and  of  many 
forms  of  vegetation  that  are  no  longer  to  be 
found  anywhere  on  the  earth,  it  is  not  difficult 
to  realize  that  this  process  of  extinction  may 
perfectly  well  be  going  on  right  under  our  eyes. 
Indeed,  why  should  it  not  be.^^  What  is  more 
probable.'* 

All  of  which  makes  the  conifer  more  interest- 
ing, and  certainly  to  be  treated  with  the  greatest 
consideration  and  a  better  understanding  than 
leads  to  its  use  haphazard  as  "shrubbery"  to 
hide  a  cellar  wall.  Yet  to  hide  our  cellar  walls 
with  something  that  will  be  effective  winter  as 
well  as  summer,  we  often  wish;  and  this  brings 
me  to  the  consideration  first  of  evergreen  shrubs. 
For  there  are  many  of  these,  every  one  beauti- 
ful and  some  bearing  beautiful  flowers  or  beau- 
tiful fruits;  and  of  course  they  lend  themselves 
to  the  foundation  massing  which  is  so  desired, 
perfectly  well. 

Which  is  not  the  case  with  the  trees;  for  of  all 
the  great  cone  -  bearing  class  there  are  really 
only  two  suited  to  the  small  garden.    These  are 


ft  ® 


S  ^ 
■5.5 

W3      S 


O      M 


O    eS 


USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  EVERGREENS    159 

the  arborvitse,  which  is  sometimes  called  white 
cedar,  and  the  red  cedar — the  first  being  Thuya 
occidentalis  and  the  second  Juniperus  communis. 
Out  of  the  countless  nursery  varieties  of  these  it 
is  possible  to  get  a  considerable  variation  in  ap- 
pearance— if  this  were  desirable.  But  variation 
of  this  character  is  exactly  what  the  best  stand- 
ards of  planting  avoid,  for  reasons  which  I  will 
try  to  make  clear,  though  standards  are  some- 
times difficult  things  to  explain  definitely.  Just 
why  one  thing  is  good  while  another  is  bad 
positively  defies  expression  in  words,  now  and 
then. 

But  in  general  I  think  a  safe  guide  in  garden 
standards  is  the  sense  of  repose.  No  design  or 
planting  which  is  not  restful  and  unobtrusive, 
is  good;  and  no  design  that  is  dominated  by  con- 
trasts is  either  of  these.  Above  all  else  indeed  a 
garden  must  have  unbroken  mass — not  kaleido- 
scopic variety;  and  it  must  be  true  mass,  else 
it  will  almost  certainly  degenerate  into  mess. 
The  groups  of  small  evergreens  of  which  I  spoke 
at  the  beginning  of  the  chapter,  for  example,  are 
called  masses  by  their  advocates  and  admirers 
— and  they  are  of  course  a  mass  of  evergreens. 
But  they  are  all  different  in  kind;  therefore  they 
are  not  what  I  term  a  true  mass.  To  be  this  the 
group  must  be  confined  to  one  variety  only. 


160  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

must  be  a  mass  of  junipers  or  arborvitaes  or 
pines  or  firs;  then  it  has  continuity  and  dignity 
and  repose. 

With  no  class  of  vegetation  is  this  distinction 
so  aggressive,  if  I  may  put  it  that  way,  as  it  is 
with  evergreens,  although  it  is  always  apparent 
and  decidedly  in  evidence  to  the  discriminating 
observer.  A  mass  of  shrubbery  is  better  for 
being  made  up  of  six  or  seven  kinds  instead  of 
fifteen  or  twenty;  a  group  of  deciduous  trees 
likewise  must  be  limited  in  varieties  if  it  is  not 
to  look  like  a  collection  instead  of  part  of  a 
landscape;  and  flowers  lose  in  effect  in  inverse 
ratio  to  the  number  of  colors  and  kinds  which  a 
single  mass  contains.  But  in  none  of  these  is 
there  such  striking  disharmony  as  in  a  group  of 
many  kinds  of  evergreens,  partly  because  the 
former  are  not  confined  when  growing  in  the 
wild  to  groups  containing  only  one  variety,  per- 
haps, while  evergreens  almost  invariably  are; 
largely  because  the  individuality  of  evergreens 
is  so  much  more  marked  that  two  kinds  in  com- 
bination never  blend  in  the  slightest  degree,  as 
deciduous  growth  does.  On  the  contrary,  each 
specimen  stands  apart,  however  close  it  may  be 
put  to  its  neighbors,  protesting  and  indignant 
at  the  affront  which  such  treatment  imposes. 

While  the  small  garden  may  be  allowed  two 


USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  EVERGREENS   161 

kinds  of  deciduous  tree,  therefore,  such  as  the 
single  dogwood  or  single  wafer  ash  and  an  oak 
mentioned  in  the  last  chapter,  it  should  never 
entertain  more  than  one  kind  of  evergreen — or, 
more  strictly  speaking,  conifer.  Several  of  this 
one  kind  may  find  space,  of  course;  but  however 
large  the  number  possible,  never  allow  but  the 
one  variety.  My  own  preference  is  for  the 
arborvitae  as  being  more  generally  suitable  in 
every  way  to  small  quarters.  It  may  attain  a 
height  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet  at  maturity  (they 
are  seldom  to  be  found  this  size),  but  even  at 
this  height  it  remains  narrow  and  therefore  does 
not  usurp  space  required  for  other  things,  or  for 
open  air  and  sunlight.  And  it  possesses  much 
beauty  to  recommend  it  and  is  a  sturdy,  hardy, 
thrifty  specimen.  The  Siberian  variety  is  pre- 
ferred to  the  native  by  some,  as  it  is  less  likely 
to  burn  under  the  winter  sun  and  show  dead 
places  as  a  consequence,  when  planted  in  a 
hedge.  I  have  found  the  native  {Thuya  occi- 
dentalis)  quite  as  satisfactory  for  general  plant- 
ing, however,  and  its  taller,  slimmer  form  is 
more  to  my  liking;  but  that  is  of  course  a  mat- 
ter of  personal  taste.  (The  Siberian  variety  is 
Thuya  occidentalism  Wareana.) 

The   red   cedar  or  juniper  is  our  one  best 
material    for    effects    inspired    by   the    Italian 


1G2  COME  INTO  THE  GAEDEN 

cypress;  and  it  is  useful  also  wherever  an 
arborvitse  might  be  used,  inasmuch  as  it  has 
the  same  columnar  form.  In  texture  it  is  more 
ethereal  than  the  arborvitse,  even  while  it  is 
darker  and  duller  in  color;  and  as  it  ages  it 
loses  its  lower  branches  and  gradually  becomes 
broad  topped  and  picturesquely  irregular  and 
distorted.  Wherefore,  though  this  is  not  char- 
acteristic until  long  after  its  youth  and  even 
middle  age  are  passed,  it  cannot  be  used  where 
an  absolutely  permanent  pyramidal  or  columnar 
form  is  required,  as  the  arborvitse  can. 

Of  the  small  and  interesting  conifers  from 
Japan  and  China  that  are  constantly  becoming 
more  available  as  the  stock  sent  out  by  the 
Arnold  Arboretum — whence  practically  all  of 
these  have  come — is  built  up  by  those  growers 
fortunate  enough  to  have  acquired  it,  it  must 
be  said  that  they  do  seem  to  meet  the  desire  for 
diminutive  material  that  will  not  outgrow  its 
surroundings.  But  with  these,  as  with  all  others 
of  this  class,  be  counseled  to  avoid  mixing.  If 
the  retinospora  is  chosen,  use  only  this  and  of 
one  variety.  It  will  make  a  fine,  dense  screen 
too  high  to  see  over,  if  this  is  needed,  or  it  will 
mark  the  points  of  the  design  if  such  marking 
seems  desirable.  It  too  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
a  juvenile  form;    but  as  it  is   somewhat  re- 


USE  AND  ABUSE  OF  EVERGREENS   163 

strained  from  attaining  normal  size  by  selection 
in  propagating,  and  is  further  affected  by  the 
struggle  to  adapt  in  order  to  survive  the  chang- 
ing conditions  of  which  I  have  spoken,  the 
reiinospora  will  not  become  a  tree  such  as  the 
arborvitse  or  juniper. 


'Go  down  to  Kew  in  lilac-time,  in  lilac-time,  in  lilac-time; 
Go  down  to  Kew  in  lilac-time  (it  isn't  far  from  Lon- 
don!) 
And  you  shall  wander  hand  in  hand  with  love  in  sum- 
mer's wonderland; 
Go  down  to  Kew  in  lilac-time  (it  isn't  far  from  Lon- 
don!). 
— "Go  Down  to  Kew  in  Lilac-time* — Alfred  Noyes. 


CHAPTER  XII 

Shrubbery  and  Shrubs 

IT  is  the  common  habit  to  think  of  and  make 
use  of  shrubs — almost  never  of  shrubbery. 
Which  is  all  the  difference  between  a  nursery 
and  a  garden  picture,  in  the  last  analysis.  For 
shrubs  individually  have  not  the  pictorial  qual- 
ity; indeed  I  think  we  may  very  safely  say 
that  neither  has  anything  else  that  goes  to  the 
making  of  a  garden,  alone  and  by  itself.  Soli- 
tary growths  may  become  splendid  and  perfect 
specimens,  but  their  very  perfection  destroys 
their  picturesqueness.  So  I  am  going  to  ask  you 
to  banish  completely  the  thought  of  the  lilac 
bush  or  the  snowball  in  the  midst  of  the  door- 
164 


SHRUBBERY  AND  SHRUBS  165 

yard  and  to  acquire  a  new  conception  of  this 
kind  of  garden  material.  Not  that  we  are  to 
make  an  end  of  these  fine  old-timers  themselves 
by  any  means;  but  we  must  learn  more  about 
their  kind  than  we  possibly  can  while  they  as 
individuals  occupy  the  mental  foreground,  ob- 
scuring all  else. 

In  the  first  place  there  are  several  important 
requirements  in  the  garden  scheme  which  shrub- 
bery alone  can  meet.  Screens  are  needed, 
sometimes  to  obscure  something  which  lies  be- 
yond the  boundaries,  sometimes  for  the  seclu- 
sion of  the  place  from  uninvited  inspection  from 
without,  and  again  for  the  hiding  of  utility 
features  in  one  part  from  the  more  elegant 
portions.  No  individual  shrub,  however,  will 
provide  an  effectual  screen — for  to  be  effectual 
a  screen  must  conceal  the  thing  which  it  is  meant 
to  hide  so  completely  that  no  suspicion  of  its 
presence  will  arise  as  one  looks  in  its  direction. 
The  screen  that  falls  short  of  fulfilling  this  re- 
quirement is  worse  than  a  failure;  it  is  an  aggra- 
vation, permitting  as  it  does  a  suspicion  of  the 
thing  hidden  and  rousing  curiosity  accordingly. 

Apart  from  its  function  of  screen  making, 
shrubbery  provides  one  of  the  best  flowering 
mediums  that  the  garden  may  enjoy — and  the 
hard  pressed  busy  gardener  as  well.    For  with  a 


166  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

proper  selection  of  shrubs,  uninterrupted  bloom 
throughout  the  summer  is  practically  secured, 
with  no  further  effort  than  the  initial  planting. 
Let  it  not  be  understood  that  I  am  quoting  this 
in  favor  of  shrubbery  because  other  garden  ma- 
terial is  too  much  trouble  to  care  for,  under  the 
usual  circumstances  of  the  all-the-year  home.  I 
am  not  at  all  in  sympathy  with  that  attitude, 
as  I  think  I  have  already  made  plain;  but  there 
are  many  times  legitimate  reasons  for  the  gar- 
dener's inability  to  spend  much  time  in  his  gar- 
den. It  is  this  situation  which  is  met  by  the 
things  requiring  little  care,  making  a  garden 
and  flowers  possible  where  otherwise  all  would 
be  barren. 

Obviously  if  flowers  throughout  six  months 
in  summer  are  to  be  enjoyed,  there  must  be  at 
least  six  different  kinds  included  in  a  shrubbery 
planting,  as  no  kind  can  be  expected  to  bloom 
over  a  month.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  kind  will 
bloom  that  long,  and  six  shrubs  would  leave 
gaps,  however  carefully  they  were  chosen. 
Eight  or  ten  must  be  combined  to  get  flowers 
from  April  to  September;  but  as  the  best  stand- 
ard of  planting  requires  many  of  a  few  kinds 
rather  than  a  few  each  of  many  kinds,  a  group 
of  ten  shrubs  each  different  from  the  other  is 
not  to  be  considered  as  a  possibility  for  an  in- 


SHRUBBERY  AND  SHRUBS  167 

slant.  We  must  either  be  satisfied  with  bloom 
somewhat  interrupted,  or  we  must  greatly  in- 
crease the  number  of  individuals  planted. 

WTiich  of  these  alternatives  is  chosen  will  of 
course  depend  on  the  amount  of  space  which 
may  be  given  over  to  shrubbery.  A  much  larger 
group  numerically  may  be  used  than  was  pos- 
sible under  the  old  way  of  planting  where  every 
shrub  stood  alone  to  give  it  room  to  grow  into 
a  specimen.  For  a  distance  between  individ- 
uals of  from  two  to  three  to  four  feet  is  ample, 
the  latter  being  a  maximum  that  is  rarely  used 
excepting  along  the  edge  of  a  border,  or  well  in 
the  background  where  large  shrubs  are  furnish- 
ing the  high  growth.  The  general  average 
throughout  a  shrubbery  mass  should  be  from 
two  and  a  half  to  three  feet. 

It  has  been  my  experience  that  this  close 
massing  is  more  nearly  an  insurmountable  ob- 
stacle to  the  average  planter  than  any  other  of 
the  innovations  which  gardening,  treated  as  an 
art,  require  him  to  accept.  Perpetually  the  ob- 
jection is  raised  that  the  individuals  in  a  mass 
will  not  do  well;  that  they  will  be  crowded 
and  lose  their  shape;  that  they  will  not  show. 
Not  doing  well  I  find  usually  includes  the  two 
latter  in  its  broad  generality  and  is  not  a  refer- 
ence to  the  shrub's  health  and  nourishment. 


168  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

However  that  may  be,  though,  there  is  not  the 
slightest  chance  of  shrubs  planted  in  this  close 
company  not  doing  exactly  what  they  should 
in  the  matter  of  growth;  of  their  not  becoming 
just  the  shape  which  best  suits  their  position 
and  the  artist-gardener's  general  pu'-pose;  and 
not  showing  to  the  fullest  degree  desirable  and 
conformable  with  the  scheme.  Indeed,  close 
company  with  its  consequent  mutual  protection, 
is  more  in  accord  with  Nature's  scheme  of  things 
always  than  scattered  planting. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  said  that  al- 
though the  exigencies  of  the  small  place  demand 
a  great  deal  of  restraint  in  the  handling  of  the 
garden  material,  shrubbery  is  the  one  thing 
which  simply  cannot  be  subjected  to  formal 
treatment  with  satisfactory  results,  but  must  be 
used  as  Nature  uses  it.  Certain  shrubs  lend 
themselves  readily  enough  to  the  carrying  out 
of  more  or  less  formal  lines,  to  be  sure;  but 
shrubbery  collectively,  being  in  its  very  nature 
broadly  pictorial,  must  be  picturesquely  dis- 
posed. The  aim  should  always  be  to  produce 
with  it  a  mass — an  impenetrable  thicket  of  in- 
terlacing boughs;  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  shrub- 
bery rightly  massed  will  be  almost  as  effectual 
a  screen  in  winter,  with  its  branches  bare,  as  in 
summer  when  they  are  in  full  leaf.    Forget  that 


SHRUBBERY  AND  SHRUBS  169 

such  a  thing  as  a  shrub  exists;  regard  the  indi- 
viduals only  as  components  of  a  blossom-strewn, 
colorful  thicket.  Look  at  them  in  the  aggre- 
gate; never  separately. 

It  is  as  a  frame  to  the  lawn  spaces,  hence  as  a 
boundary  planting  usually,  that  the  use  of 
shrubbery  is  satisfactorily  possible  on  a  small 
place.  Heretofore  I  have  not  laid  emphasis  upon 
the  point  which  must  now  be  considered — a 
point  involving  one  of  the  great  principles  which 
underlie  all  kinds  of  planting  and  garden  ar- 
rangement, namely  the  open  center  and  massed 
boundary — preferring  to  leave  it  until  it  was 
arrived  at  naturally  in  the  development  of  the 
subject.  In  the  disposal  of  shrubbery  we  first 
come  face  to  face  with  it,  in  close  quarters. 
Trees  would  have  brought  it  if  we  had  been  con- 
sidering places  larger  than  the  typical  size  to 
which  we  are  restricted,  although  trees  need  not 
be  quite  as  persistently  shoved  back  to  the 
lawn's  outer  limits  as  shrubs.  Indeed  they  can- 
not be,  if  shade  requirements  are  to  be  met,  al- 
though actually  their  distribution  about  a  dwell- 
ing to  shade  the  ground  from  which  heat  re- 
flects in  summer,  amounts  really  to  a  massed 
boundary  of  one  part  of  the  lawn,  when  con- 
sidered from  the  lawn's  center. 

A  tree  or  two  or  three  may  advance,  however. 


170  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

here  and  there,  quite  well  out  into  the  lawn,  if 
the  latter  is  spacious;  but  the  shrubbery  mass 
must  not,  except  in  so  far  as  the  undulations  of 
its  foreline,  determined  in  plan  when  the  design 
is  made,  carry  it.  This  foreline  or  meeting  line 
of  shrubbery  and  lawn  is  most  successful  when 
its  likeness  to  a  rugged  shore  line  is  closest,  the 
water  being  represented  by  the  lawn  while  the 
shrubbery  mass  corresponds  to  the  land.  In- 
lets and  promontories  mark  such  a  shore,  and 
lawn  "inlets"  and  shrub  "promontories"  are  ex- 
actly the  effect  most  desired  and  desirable  in 
shrubbery  planting.  Study  the  conformation  of 
such  a  bank;  here  and  there  are  gentle  slopes 
down  to  the  water's  edge.  These  will  be  suc- 
cessfully reproduced  by  low-growing  and  almost 
prostrate  shrubs,  planted  in  the  fore  of  the  taller 
varieties.  Elsewhere,  masses  sometimes  detach 
themselves  and  tumble  down  and  out  a  bit  from 
the  parent  headland.  Here  is  the  guide  which 
shows  how  detached  specimens  may  be  planted 
at  the  prominent  parts  of  the  border — of  which 
there  should  be  only  a  very  few,  however. 

It  is  distinctly  apparent  that  this  sort  of  thing 
cannot  be  carried  out,  except  on  a  very  limited 
scale,  within  the  fifty  by  one  hundred  foot  plot, 
if  anything  else  is  to  find  room  in  the  garden. 
True,  a  very  pleasing  border  of  shrubbery  is  pos- 


Such  little  trees  as  this  dwarf  apple  are  excellent  material 
to  incorporate  with  shrubbery  mass  anywhere  in  full  sun- 
light, for  both  in  flower  and  fruit  they  are  ornamental 


SHRUBBERY  AND  SHRUBS  171 

sible  even  in  this  space,  if  it  is  prized  above  all 
else;  and  even  with  such  a  border  there  may 
still  be  opportunity  for  some  flowers.  But  great 
restraint  must  govern,  obviously. 

Generally  speaking,  too  little  thought  is  given 
to  the  dreariest  time  of  the  year  in  planning  the 
garden.  Summer  is  fair  and  gracious  and  pleas- 
ant enough  without  much  coaxing  or  cajoling; 
but  late  autumn  and  winter,  and  raw,  muddy, 
early  spring  are  rude  and  gloomy  and  sullen  and 
sulky  more  of  the  time  than  not — yet  rarely  a 
thought  of  conciliation  is  given  to  them.  Winter 
garden  effects  are  hardly  worth  calculating  in 
the  summer  home,  of  course,  but  village  homes 
generally  are  for  all  the  year  rather  than  for  its 
garden  season  only.  Therefore  the  winter  sea- 
son should  be  as  definitely  included  in  making 
plans  as  the  summer;  if  need  be  I  would  advise 
sacrifice  of  the  latter  a  little  in  order  to  favor  the 
former. 

Shrubbery  furnishes  the  great  medium  for 
winter  beauty  in  the  garden,  with  perhaps  a 
touch  of  evergreen  planting  to  give  depth.  The 
shrubs  which,  by  means  of  colored  bark  or  per- 
sistent berries,  contribute  most  to  the  winter 
phase  of  garden  making,  however,  are  not  the 
shrubs  which  furnish  the  choicest  blossoms  in 
summer — or  that  furnish  bloom  over  the  longest 


172  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

period.  It  is  this  to  which  I  had  reference  in 
suggesting  the  sacrifice  of  summer  in  order  to 
favor  winter.  A  hberal  use  of  what  we  may  call 
the  fine  winter-effect  shrubs  will  curtail  the 
number  of  summer-effect  varieties  that  may  be 
planted,  but  I  feel  that  the  gain  in  winter  more 
than  compensates  the  small  loss  in  summer.  For 
other  things  will  furnish  summer  flowers,  even 
though  the  continuous  shrub  bloom  is  given 
over,  but  nothing  save  the  certain  shrubbery 
masses  selected  for  it  can  give  to  winter  the 
warmth  and  cheer  which  lie  in  these  for  the 
year-around  home. 

The  rhododendron  is  probably  the  best  known 
of  all  the  broad-leaved  evergreens — and  almost 
the  last  one  that  should  be  used  next,  or  near 
to,  a  building,  I  hasten  to  add.  For  of  all  the 
things  comprising  this  great  class  it  is  the  most 
essentially  wild  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 
Not  that  any  of  them  take  enthusiastically  to 
domestication — they  have  to  be  catered  to 
meticulously — but  at  least  they  fit  themselves 
into  its  setting  harmoniously.  But  the  rhodo- 
dendron cannot,  for  ungainliness.  It  does  not 
sulk  and  it  blooms  and  grows;  but  it  always 
seems  to  me  like  some  great,  wild,  unlettered 
cow-puncher  (which  all  cow-punchers  I  know 
are  not !)  booted  and  spurred  and  in  full  regalia. 


SHRUBBERY  AND  SHRUBS  173 

trying  his  utmost  to  entertain  and  be  enter- 
tained in  a  fashionable  drawing-room.  It  is  no 
derogation  of  either  the  man,  the  drawing-room, 
or  its  other  occupants  that  his  efforts  are  unsuc- 
cessful and  that  his  growing  self-consciousness 
makes  them  more  rather  than  less  so.  Similarly 
with  the  rhododendron;  no  finer  or  more  beau- 
tiful plant  exists  than  it,  in  its  proper  environ- 
ment— which  is  the  half  shade  of  open  woods — 
but  away  from  this  environment  its  actual 
beauties  are  diminished,  and  what  remain  are 
so  obscured  by  its  awkwardness  and  obvious 
consciousness  of  being  out  of  place,  that  they 
hardly  count. 

So  as  a  first  rule  in  the  use  of  this  particular 
shrub  let  us  say  that  it  shall  never  be  placed 
against  or  even  very  close  to  a  building,  unless 
that  building  is  situated  actually  in  a  wood  and 
all  the  conditions  around  it  are  naturally  wild 
or  duplicate  the  wild  completely.  I  do  not 
deny  that  now  and  then  there  are  to  be  found 
instances  of  its  use  in  the  midst  of  small  conifers 
against  a  building  where  its  awkwardness  is  not 
so  in  evidence;  but  these  are  rare,  and  not, 
moreover,  permanent,  since  the  conifers  will 
crowd  in  against  the  shrub  in  time  and  need 
thinning,  or  the  whole  will  need  replanting. 

Further,  there  are  so  many  things  better  than 


174  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

rhododendrons  for  use  about  a  building,  and 
there  are  so  much  better  uses  of  the  rhodo- 
dendron, that  there  is  no  valid  reason  for  this 
misuse  of  it.  Leave  it  to  its  wild,  sweet  will; 
naturalize  it  under  trees  and  you  will  find  noth- 
ing in  the  world  lovelier.  Is  it  worth  while  to 
sacrifice  its  beauty  when  treated  thus,  to  gratify 
the  (mistaken)  desire  for  it  beside  the  door  or 
against  the  house  foundations,  because  it  is 
evergreen?  Decidedly  it  is  not — for  its  beauty 
in  the  natural  environment  of  woods  is  startling 
beyond  everything  else  and  one  of  the  choicest 
dramatic  elements  available  to  the  landscape 
architect. 

By  which  you  will  gather  that  the  small  gar- 
den is  not  the  place  for  it,  no  doubt;  let  me  go 
further  and  say  that  nothing  but  the  wilderness 
is  the  place  for  it.  Where  we  can  naturalize  it 
in  its  beloved  woods  as  we  do  any  other  wild 
flower  in  its  favorite  haunt,  there  let  us  use  it 
in  as  great  quantity  as  possible;  or  where  we 
can  mass  it  in  rich  banks  and  billows  under  the 
shade  of  great  trees  to  form  lovely  glades  in  an 
estate  park,  let  us  do  so;  but  not  otherwise. 
For  other  situations  we  have  other  and  better 
material,  no  more  beautiful  intrinsically^  to  be 
sure,  but  more  suitable. 

Bear  in  mind  invariably  that  the  garden  ideal 


SHRUBBERY  AND  SHRUBS  175 

is  not  horticultural  above  all  else.  It  considers 
instead  the  picture  that  is  being  created — and 
extraordinary  specimens  do  not  contribute  to 
that  harmony  of  ensemble  which  is  the  essential 
thing.  So,  however  remarkable  a  shrub  may 
be  in  bloom  and  other  individual  characteris- 
tics, in  its  garden  aspect  it  must  have  the  added 
quality  of  being  a  good  mixer — unless  it  is  to 
make  one  of  a  collection  grown  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  ascertaining  how  magnificent  specimen 
plants  may  become,  which  is  altogether  another 
proposition. 

There  are  ten  distinct  evergreen  shrubs  that 
are  obtainable — that  is,  they  are  offered  by 
nurseries — which  I  would  recommend  as  suit- 
able wherever  an  evergreen  mass  is  desired. 
They  are,  in  their  alphabetical  order,  Ahelia 
(bush  arbutus),  Andromeda  (lily-of-the-valley 
shrub),  certain  Azaleas,  Calluna  (Scotch  hea- 
ther), certain  CotoneasterSy  Daphne  (garland 
flower),  Evonymus,  certain  Ilex  (holl}^  and  ink- 
berry),  Kalmia  (mountain  laurel),  and  Makonia 
(Oregon  grape).  To  undertake  a  description 
of  each  here  is  not  necessary,  but  of  their  han- 
dling in  general  I  may  say  that  they  require  to 
be  dug  in  the  nursery  and  shipped  v/ith  a  ball 
of  earth  held  firmly  about  their  roots,  just  as 
evergreen  trees  are  dug.    And  they  like  a  soil 


176  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

in  which  forest  leaves  are  decaying  constantly, 
providing  it  with  the  acid  that  vegetable  ma- 
ter of  this  sort  alone  will  furnish — which  these 
plants  all  require. 

The  relative  positions  which  these  shrubs 
should  occup3^  toward  each  other,  and  the  dis- 
tances between  them,  are  the  same  as  with  de- 
ciduous material.  The  tallest  are  the  Ilex  Ma- 
honia,  and  some  Cotoneasters;  the  next  are  the 
laurel  and  Andromeda  and  the  others  are  still 
lower,  down  to  the  almost  prostrate  growing 
Cotoneaster  microphylla. 

Of  them  finally  it  is  perhaps  well  to  say  that 
they  are  expensive  material;  but  if  they  are 
selected  of  a  size  to  be  really  effective  they  will 
produce  an  effect  as  immediate  as  any  other 
evergreen.  Otherwise  they  will  not  produce  a 
finished  effect  as  soon  as  deciduous  material, 
since  they  are  of  much  slower  growth.  More- 
over, while  they  are  growing,  it  will  not  do  to 
fill  the  blank  spaces  between  or  around  them 
with  other  shrubs  or  even  with  lush  growing 
annuals,  for  these  will  choke  off  light  and  air 
from  them  and  retard  their  own  progress  almost 
altogether.  These  things  considered,  however, 
there  is  no  reason  why  evergreen  shrubs  should 
not  be  as  freely  used  in  the  small  garden  as  in 
the  large,  and  with  delightful  effect. 


SHRUBBERY  AND  SHRUBS  177 

But  this  broad-leaved  evergreen  group,  lovely 
though  many  of  its  members  are,  does  not  sur- 
pass in  winter  beauty,  in  my  opinion,  the  vi- 
brant warmth  of  the  barberry's  scarlet  fruits, 
quivering  the  length  of  every  branch,  nor  of  its 
tangle  of  red-brown  twigs;  or  the  great  cymes 
of  the  high-bush  cranberry  which  nod  aloft  de- 
fying sleet  and  snow  until  spring  brings  forth 
the  young  leaves  to  crowd  them  out  of  their 
way;  or  the  deep  burgundy  of  the  cornel 
branches  laced  against  the  snow;  or  the  bright 
hips  and  glowing  color  of  the  wild-rose  mass. 
The  broad-leaved  evergreens,  too,  such  as  rho- 
dodendron and  laurel  and  andromeda,  require 
certain  soil  conditions  for  successful  growth, 
but  the  shrubs  just  named  will  grow  anywhere 
practically,  in  any  soil  and  situation. 

Roses  are  shrubs,  of  course — but  none  of  the 
hybrid  double  roses  should  ever  find  their  way 
into  the  shrubbery.  There  are  several  lovely 
shrubbery  roses  available  for  such  massing, 
either  in  groups  made  up  of  themselves  alone, 
or  mingled  with  a  general  planting;  but  these 
are  never  the  double  rose  of  the  florist.  At 
most  they  are  only  semidouble,  usually  they 
are  single.  The  great  roses  of  the  rose  garden 
— the  hybrid  teas  and  perpetuals  and  all  the 
fancier's  kind — are  artificial  products  of  cen- 


178  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

turies  of  culture  which  have  quite  outgrown  the 
common  general  garden  and  must  always  have 
a  place  to  themselves.  Note  that  these  are 
never  ornamented  with  the  rich  and  brilliant 
berries  or  hips  which  make  the  wild  rose  and  the 
other  single  roses  such  things  of  beauty  and  joy 
in  winter.  This  is  the  penalty  of  doubling.  The 
plant  is  rendered  sterile  and  incapable  of  pro- 
ducing fruit. 

Boxwood  is  another  shrub  growth  that  is  in 
a  class  apart  from  all  the  rest.  It  is  the  one 
plant  of  this  class  that,  unless  used  as  a  hedge, 
is  preferably  planted  alone  rather  than  in  a 
group.  We  seem  to  have  lost  the  knack  of 
handling  it  effectively  nowadays,  however,  and 
even  the  boxwood  hedge  is  almost  never  seen. 
Its  slow  growth  is  probably  in  a  large  measure 
the  reason  for  this;  and  it  is  of  course  an  ex- 
pensive species,  compared  to  the  general  run 
of  shrubs.  But  one  well-placed  specimen  of 
boxwood  should  find  a  place  in  the  garden,  even 
though  it  comes  as  a  very  tiny  bush  in  the 
beginning.  For  not  another  plant  in  the  world 
has  such  an  air  about  it  as  this  exquisite  old 
aristocrat — and  it  suits  formal  or  informal 
schemes  equally  well,  even  as  gentlefolks  tact- 
fully set  things  and  people  at  their  ease,  wher- 
ever they  may  go. 


SHRUBBERY  AND  SHRUBS 


179 


Ten  Shrubs  fob  All-summer  Bloom  with  Color  op  Flowers 
AND  Height  at  Maturity 


8  feet 


Apbil 

Forsythia 

Forsythia  Fortunei 

YeUow 

8 

Mat 

Flame  azalea 

Azalea  calendulacea 

Orange 

6 

Spirea 

Spiraea  Van  Houttei 

White 

8 

lilac 

Syringa  vulgaris 

White,  lilac 

12 

June 

Weigelia 

DierviUa  florihunda 

Crimson 

6 

Mock  orange 

Philadelphus  coronariua 

White 

10 

July 

New  Jersey  tea 

Ceanothus  americanus 

White 

3 

Butterfly  bush 

Buddleia  variabilis  Veitchi 

Lilac 

8 

August 

Giant  elder 

Sambucus  maxima  pubescena 

White 

10 

September 

Rose  of  Sharon 

Hibiscus  Syriacua 

White,  etc. 

10 

The  above  bloom  approximately  in  the  months  named,  and  hold  their 
flowers  usually  long  enough  to  leave  no  intermissions,  hence  this  selection 
will  give  as  nearly  uninterrupted  bloom  all  summer  as  it  is  possible  to 
achieve. 

Ten  Evergreen  Shrubs 


Winterberry* 

Ilex  glabra 

White 

8  feet 

Laurel 

Kalmia  latifolia 

Pink 

8    " 

Azalea 

Azalea  indica  alba 

White 

8    *' 

Oregon  grape* 

Mahonia  aquifolium 

Yellow 

6     " 

Spindle  tree 

Evonymus  Japonicus 

Greenish 

6    •• 

Fire  thorn* 

Pyracantha  coccinea  Lalandi 

White 

6    •• 

Andromeda 

Pieris  floribunda 

White 

4     •• 

Cotoneaster 

Cotoneaster  Simonsi 

White 

4     ♦• 

Lily-of-VaUey  shrub 

Leucothoe  Catesbaei 

White 

3    " 

Scotch  heather 

Calluna  vulgaris 

Pink,  white 

2    " 

Evergreen  shrubs  are  not  planted  primarily  for  their  bloom,  which  in 
some  is  inconspicuous.  Those  marked  with  an  asterisk  have  highly  decora- 
tive fruits,  however,  so  their  evergreen  quaUty  is  not  their  only  charm; 
and  several  have  very  lovely  flowers  as  well. 


180 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


Ten  Shrubs  for  Shady  Places 


Cornelian  cherry 
Panicled  dogwood 
Silky  cornel 
Kegel's  privet 
Hydrangea 
Sweet  pepper-bush 
Deutzia 
Snowberry 
Japanese  barberry 
St.  John's-wort 


Cornus  Mas 
Cornus  paniculata 
Cornus  Amomum 
Ligustrum  Ibota  Regelianum 
Hydrangea  arborescens 
Clethra  alnifolia 
Deutzia  scabra 
Symphoricarpos  ractmosus 
Berberis  Thunbergii 
Hypericum  densiflorum 


Yellow 

10  feet 

White 

8    " 

White 

8    •• 

White 

8    •• 

White 

8    •• 

White 

8    •• 

White 

6    •• 

Pink 

6    " 

Yellow 

4     *' 

Yellow 

4     " 

Ten  Shrubs  with  Ornamental  Fruits 


Turquoise  berry 
Christmas  berry 
Buckthorn 
Red  chokeberry 
Cornel 
Spice  bush 
Burning  bush 
Gray  alder 
Withe  rod 
Barberry 


Symplocus  paniculata 
Photinia  villosa 
Rhamnus  Frangula 
Aronia  arbuti folia 
Cornus  Bailey i 
Benzoin  odoriferiim 
Evonymus  alatus 
Ilex  laevigata 
Viburnum  cassinoides 
Berberis  vulgaris  purpurea 


Blue  berries 

16-20  feet 

Scarlet 

12     " 

Red  to  black 

12     " 

Red 

12     '• 

White 

10    " 

Red 

10    " 

Orange  and  red 

8     " 

Scarlet 

8     " 

8     " 

Purple 

6    " 

**  Through  primrose  tufts,  in  that  sweet  bower. 
The  periwinkle  trailed  its  wreaths; 
And  'tis  my  faith  that  every  flower 
Enjoys  the  air  it  breathes." 

— Wordsworth. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Flowers  of  All  Climes  and  Seasons 

IT  is,  I  know,  a  reversal  of  the  order  which  the 
garden  beginner's  enthusiasm  takes  to  wait 
until  everything  else  has  been  disposed  of  before 
coming  even  to  the  consideration  of  flowers. 
But  if  I  have  succeeded  at  all  in  developing 
through  these  pages  the  garden  idea,  as  I  con- 
ceive it,  you  will  appreciate  by  this  time  that 
the  garden  is  the  thing,  and  that  all  that  goes 
to  make  up  the  garden  is  secondary — even  the 
trees  and  shrubs  and  flowers.  Of  course  there 
would  be  no  garden  without  vegetation;  but 
our  custom  has  always  been  to  work  from  the 
vegetation  backward — a  practice  which  never 
can  give  the  harmoniously  balanced  and  beau- 
tiful final  result  that  the  more  logical  method  of 
181 


182  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

working  up  to  the  vegetation,  from  the  bare 
ground,  assures. 

So  the  garden  and  house  are  designed  as  a 
unit,  and  all  that  enters  into  this  design  is  con- 
sidered and  worked  out  before  the  plants  are 
thought  of.  After  all  this  is  done,  after  the 
house  and  the  garden  are  carefully  and  thor- 
oughly built,  then  the  place  as  a  whole  stands 
ready  for  furnishing,  the  indoors  with  its  kind, 
the  outdoors  with  its.  Large  pieces  of  furniture 
in  the  house,  then  the  smaller,  and  then  the 
purely  decorative  material;  trees  out  of  doors, 
next  shrubs — and  finally  the  flowers.  Thus  we 
come  to  them  fully  prepared  to  place  and  group 
them  worthily,  and  to  treat  them  as  they  deserve 
to  be  treated. 

The  times  when  they  are  so  dealt  with  are  all 
too  few,  unintentional  though  our  sins  of  omis- 
sion are;  as  a  consequence,  the  effect  of  the 
flowers  which  we  do  grow  is  not  one-hundredth 
what  it  might  be.  For  we  should  have  not  only 
the  beauty  of  the  flowers  themselves  to  delight 
us,  but  the  beauty  of  the  garden  design — the 
garden  scheme  as  a  whole,  picked  out  and 
quickened  by  them.  They  are,  indeed,  the 
garden  craftsman's  colorful  gems,  his  inlays  of 
rich  enamel,  his  mosaic  chips,  to  be  incorpo- 
rated into  his  design  as  these  jewels  and  bits  of 


FLOWERS  OF  ALL  SEASONS  183 

enamel  or  shell  or  what  not  are  assembled  under 
the  hands  of  workers  skilled  in  the  crafts  which 
employ  them. 

Everyone  knows  of  course  that  there  are, 
generally  speaking,  two  kinds  of  flowering  plants 
— those  which  live  over  from  year  to  year,  and 
those  which  must  be  raised  every  year  from 
seed  sown  in  the  spring;  or  perennials  and  an- 
nuals, according  to  garden  terminology.  A 
third  kind  which  escapes  the  attention  of  the 
beginner  very  often  is  the  biennial,  a  plant 
which  is  raised  from  seed  one  spring,  grows  to 
maturity  the  first  summer,  lives  through  the 
winter,  and  blossoms  and  matures  its  seed  the 
second  summer,  dying  when  fall  comes — not  of 
the  cold  but  because  its  life  cycle  is  over. 

These  lap-overs  are  an  exasperating  kind  of 
plant  to  my  mind,  and  if  it  were  not  that  some 
of  the  loveliest  of  flowers  are  among  them  I 
think  I  should  never  admit  them  to  my  garden; 
for  each  year  young  plants  must  be  raised  and 
wintered  over  if  next  year  is  to  have  its  quota 
of  blossoms;  yet  the  space  in  the  garden  occu- 
pied by  the  blossoming  plants  is  not  available 
until  after  the  season  is  over,  of  course.  So 
somewhere  there  must  be  a  nursery  for  the 
young  stock.  Annuals  on  the  contrary,  brief 
though  their  span,  require  no  coddling,  but  may 


184  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

almost  always  be  sown  in  the  spring  where  they 
are  to  grow;  and  they  blossom  and  take  them- 
selves out  of  the  way  with  no  confusion — which 
habit  has  its  distinct  advantages. 

Annuals,  biennials,  and  perennials  each  have 
their  superior  points,  however,  and  each  have 
their  place  in  garden  making.  Only  the  plants 
which  are  already  there  when  spring  wakes 
the  world  are  really  worthy  such  a  garden  as 
each  should  be  working  for,  however.  Here 
and  there  a  clump  of  the  others  may  come  in  as 
the  summer  days  lengthen  and  a  bit  of  spare 
room  shows  itself;  but  let  them  be  entertained 
as  guests  only,  in  the  spare  room;  do  not  take 
them  permanently  into  the  family. 

For  the  temporary  flowers  or  annuals  are 
only  temporary;  they  grow  rapidly  and  luxuri- 
antly after  they  start,  it  is  true,  and  blossom 
freely.  But  they  are  not  there  at  all  during 
the  wonderful  weeks  that  follow  the  March  or 
April  reveille — and  a  garden  barren  at  this 
time  is  no  garden!  So  plan  for  the  hardy  last- 
ing plants,  the  crocus  and  daffodil,  the  iris  and 
peony  and  phlox  and  day  lily,  tall  hollyhocks 
and  low  columbines,  blushing  lupines,  pale 
baneberry,  and  twinkling  starwort.  And  ban- 
ish the  salvia,  the  geranium,  the  fearful  coleus 
— this  not  a  flower  but  favored  as  flowers  are 


FLOWERS  OF  ALL  SEASONS  185 

and  more  strident  than  any — the  canna  and  the 
elephant's  ear.  The  presence  of  these  never 
adorned  anything;  their  manners  are  too 
shocking. 

Which  brings  me  to  the  matter  of  flower  beds, 
these  being  usually  the  medium  of  display  for 
overbearing  flowers  of  this  type.  I  am  glad  that 
the  two  are  associated;  glad  that  no  one  has 
ever  dreamed  of  doing  such  a  thing  as  plant  a 
round  bed  of  hollyhocks,  or  of  any  other  fine 
old  garden  aristocrat,  in  the  midst  of  a  lawn. 
For  of  all  gardening  offenses  the  flower  bed  is 
surely  the  worst — the  type  of  deadly  and  un- 
pardonable sin — the  murderer  of  harmony  and 
beauty  and  repose. 

Such  strong  condemnation  seems  unneces- 
sarily severe,  perhaps  you  say;  but  when  the 
outrage  which  design  suffers  by  having  a  de- 
tached, meaningless  unit  dropped  into  the  midst 
of  a  fine  and  open  space  is  added  to  the  outrage 
inflicted  upon  an  expanse  of  lawn  by  cutting  its 
heart  away  to  make  room  for  flaunting  garden 
courtesans,  and  all  this  is  multiplied,  who  shall 
say  how  often,  by  our  instinct  for  imitation  led 
by  the  fear  of  being  original,  strong  language  is 
demanded.  Better  no  flowers  at  all  than  a 
flower  bed;  there  is  at  least  no  affront  in  the 
blankness  of  the  unadorned — and  it  is  peaceable 


186  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

if  nothing  more.  The  places  for  flowers  in  a 
garden  are  very  much  like  the  place  for  gems  in 
a  fine  piece  of  jewelry.  All  the  design  leads  up 
to  them  in  a  way — and  yet  no  part  is  neglected 
for  them,  or  because  they  are  expected  to  focus 
attention.  This  is  exactly  the  ideal  to  adopt  in 
placing  flowers  in  the  garden  design.  With  it  in 
mind,  serious  mistakes  will  never  occur. 

Many  things  will  influence  the  selection  of 
varieties  and  colors  after  the  locations  are  de- 
termined upon,  and  not  until  these  are  deter- 
mined can  definite  choice  be  made.  Of  course 
it  will  be  possible  to  make  provision  usually  for 
any  special  thing  which  it  is  desired  to  have, 
but  the  general  conditions  of  the  garden  as  to 
soil  and  exposure  must  be  met  by  using  plants 
which  prefer  these  conditions.  This  is  a  phase 
of  gardening  that  is  perhaps  the  hardest  for 
early  enthusiasm  to  accept  patiently,  for  it  does 
seem  that  there  should  be  some  way  to  make 
anything  grow  that  one  very  much  wishes  to 
have.  And  there  usually  is,  of  course,  but  it  is 
often  a  very  laborious  way  and  one  requiring 
knowledge  and  skill  to  follow.  So  the  beginner 
will  be  much  wiser  to  forswear  the  things  his 
heart  is  set  upon,  if  these  are  not  naturally 
adapted  to  his  garden  conditions,  until  such  time 
at  least  as  he  is  no  longer  a  beginner  and  his 


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FLOWERS  OF  ALL  SEASONS         187 

garden  is  well  furnished  in  the  main  with  things 
that  will  grow  easily  therein.  Then,  if  he  still 
longs  for  that  which  Nature  denies,  it  will  be 
time  to  experiment,  and  the  whole  place  need 
not  suffer  in  appearance  as  a  consequence. 

But  there  are  a  great  many  more  kinds  of 
flowers  than  any  garden  can  possibly  hold,  and 
much  that  is  lovely  must  be  excluded.  Indeed, 
more  will  have  to  stay  out  than  may  come  in, 
for  flower  masses — that  is,  masses  of  one  kind 
of  flower — are  as  essential  to  good  effect  as  mass 
generally.  A  border  along  a  wall  or  walk  may 
be  mixed — usually  should  be  in  fact,  in  order  to 
secure  bloom  through  all  the  season — but  of 
each  species  composing  the  mixture  anywhere 
from  three  to  a  dozen  or  twenty  specimens  must 
be  planted,  depending  of  course  on  the  size  and 
habit  of  the  individual. 

Just  here  let  me  call  special  attention  to  the 
little  planting  diagram,  which  illustrates  a  prin- 
ciple which  should  be  carefully  observed  in 
planting  any  mixed  group  or  border.  Where  a 
clump  of  one  species  or  variety  meets  a  clump 
of  another,  a  sharp  line  of  demarkation  must 
never  be  allowed.  Instead,  an  effect  of  each 
tapering  off  into  the  other,  secured  by  scattering 
together  the  two,  not  regularly  at  all  but  as 
they  would  be  likely  to  mingle  if  self-sown  in  the 


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This  section  from  a  flow- 
er border  three  feet  wide 
shows  one  kind  of  plant 
represented  by  an  open  ring 
and  the  other  by  a  black 
spot. 


Diagram  showing  inter- 
mingling where  groups 
meet. 


188 


FLOWERS  OF  ALL  SEASONS  189 

wild,  should  be  the  aim.  Observe  any  field  of 
daisies  and  buttercups,  of  clover  and  daisies, 
or  of  any  common  wild  growth,  and  you  will 
find  a  perfect  model.  Masses  of  each  will  stand 
by  themselves,  crowded  in  places,  thin  else- 
where, and  finally  giving  way  gradually  to  the 
other,  with  here  and  there  a  fugitive  specimen 
venturing  quite  beyond  its  kind  into  the  other's 
preserve.  Follow  this  idea  generally  in  the  bor- 
der, and  indeed  in  all  group  planting  whether 
of  flowers,  shrubs,  or  trees.  A  single  specimen, 
such  as  peony  or  boltonia,  may  stand  alone  and 
independent  now  and  then  of  course,  but  ordi- 
narily everything  should  be  massed — and  the 
masses  should  meet  graciously. 

Color  seems  to  be  a  stumbling  block  some- 
times, whatever  way  it  is  considered.  But  this 
is  because  it  is  over-considered  or  not  really 
considered  at  all,  I  fancy.  An  idea  that  because 
it  is  color  in  flowers  it  will  take  care  of  itself 
and  because  Nature  seems  to  use  it  carelessly 
one  may  do  the  same,  is  too  prevalent  for  one 
thing,  while  a  lack  of  boldness  is  characteristic 
of  another  school  of  specialists.  Colors  that  are 
inharmonious  are  inharmonious  anywhere  and 
in  any  medium;  and  Nature  only  seems  to  use 
color  carelessly.  She  is  a  consummate  artist  be 
it  remembered,  and  can  do  with  dash  and  im- 


190  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

punity  things  which  we  must  beware  of  attempt- 
ing until  we  have  learned  enough  of  her  tech- 
nique to  have  acquired  facility. 

Certain  plants  are  notorious  offenders  in  the 
matter  of  color  without  doubt,  and  furnish  com- 
binations which  should  be  avoided  lilve  the 
plague.  Preeminent  in  this  class  stand  the  mix- 
tures of  zinnias  that  are  usually  seen;  and  phlox 
is  a  notorious  offender  with  its  salmon  and  ma^ 
genta  shades.  Yet  magenta  is  a  wonderful  color 
— properly  placed.  Elimination  of  any  color 
therefore  is  only  the  negative  side  of  color  pos- 
sibility, and  its  positive  side  is  capable  of  most 
delightful  development. 

As  a  general  guide  to  the  use  of  colors,  it  is 
well  to  fix  the  three  primary  colors  in  mind  and 
the  combinations  which  form  the  secondary 
colors.  The  primary  colors  (old  style)  are  pure 
yellow,  pure  red,  and  pure  blue,  as  of  course 
everyone  knows.  These  are  primary  because 
they  may  not  be  further  dissected  into  com- 
ponents, each  standing  by  itself  as  a  basic  unit. 
The  secondary  colors  are  scarlet,  purple,  and 
green,  and  these  are  each  made  up  of  two  of  the 
primary  or  basic  colors,  and  no  more,  theoret- 
ically at  least — yellow  and  red  forming  scarlet, 
red  and  blue  forming  purple,  and  blue  and  yel- 
low forming  green.     An  actually  pure  color  is 


FLOWERS  OF  ALL  SEASONS  191 

almost  unknown  as  a  matter  of  fact  and  prob- 
ably is  unknown  in  Nature.  For  pure  colors 
are  not  pleasant  to  the  eye;  their  brilliancy 
needs  tempering  to  make  them  endurable. 

Ordinarily  two  primary  colors  should  not  be 
used  in  groups  that  immediately  adjoin,  but  a 
progression  from  one  primary  color  to  another 
by  way  of  their  secondary  color,  is  always  pos- 
sible and  very  effective  if  well  carried  out. 
Pure  blue  may  progress  to  pure  yellow  by  means 
of  green — foliage  of  course  takes  care  of  this — 
and  pure  blue  to  pure  red  by  means  of  purple. 
This  last  you  see  allows  space  for  the  shades  of 
magenta;  but  the  plants  to  furnish  these  must 
be  carefully  selected,  since  in  some  the  color  is 
muddy  and  ugly. 

Such  a  progression  should  not  be  too  abrupt, 
but  should  move  in  several  steps  when  possible, 
from  primary  to  secondary  and  thence  to  the 
succeeding  primary.  And  then,  supplementing 
this  as  a  general  guide,  is  the  proportioned  use 
of  complementary  colors.  These  are  the  pair 
of  colors  made  up  of  any  primary  color  in  com- 
bination with  the  secondary,  of  which  it  is  not 
a  part — as  red  and  green,  yellow  and  purple, 
blue  and  scarlet.  Primary  and  secondary  are 
said  to  be  complementary  to  each  other  because 
if  united  they  would — theoretically — compose 


192  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

pure  light,  which  we  most  nearly  represent  by 
white.  Of  course  pigments  themselves  do  not 
actually  produce  white,  because  they  are  not 
pure  vibrations  of  light,  but  that  is  another 
matter  and  does  not  concern  us  when  we  are 
dealing  with  a  thing  as  tangible  as  the  colors  of 
flowers  and  vegetation  generally. 

The  three  sets  of  complementary  colors  vary 
in  the  degree  of  harmony  between  them.  To 
meet  this  variation  they  must  be  combined  un- 
equally, the  proportion  varying  according  to 
the  combination.  Yellow  and  purple  offer  less 
difficulty  than  the  other  two  and  may  be  used 
in  the  proportion  of  about  one  part  of  either 
to  two  parts  of  the  other.  Flowers  of  certain 
irises  give  examples  of  this  combination,  also 
pansies. 

Red  and  green  come  next,  but  with  this  com- 
bination we  are  not  called  upon  to  deal.  Nature 
taking  care  of  green  very  much  better  than  we 
could  if  it  were  left  to  us.  Note,  however,  just 
by  way  of  illustrating  the  point  of  proportion, 
that  the  red  or  the  green  is  always  very  much 
in  the  ascendant  when  this  combination  occurs. 
Red  berries  among  green  foliage  show  probably 
not  more  than  a  one-to-ten  proportion  of  red  to 
green,  while  scarlet  flowers  generally  either  re- 
verse this  by  concealing  a  large  amount  of  their 


FLOWERS  OF  ALL  SEASONS  193 

foliage,  or  do  not  reduce  it  at  most  below  a  one 
part  red  to  seven  or  eight  parts  green. 

Blue  and  scarlet  are  the  really  difficult  mem- 
bers of  the  trinity  to  handle,  for  some  mysteri- 
ous reason.  It  is  a  combination  which  may  be 
avoided  of  course  but  we  are  not  seeking  to 
get  around  these  things.  Therefore  we  must 
find  the  way  to  make  it  tolerable.  This  lies  in 
keeping  its  proportions  even  farther  apart  than 
the  red  and  green  combination  requires.  In- 
deed, either  the  blue  or  the  scarlet  must  be 
practically  7iil  save  on  close  inspection. 

White  flowers  may  of  course  break  up  the 
most  unfriendly  elements,  but  I  do  not  fancy 
a  resort  to  this  means  as  greatly  as  some.  For 
white,  of  course,  can  only  separate,  never  unite. 
Progression  around  the  circle  is  the  only  path 
to  real  union,  never  doubt  that;  and  a  garden 
whose  color  scheme  is  based  upon  this  pilgrim- 
age is  a  garden  of  the  greatest  distinction,  qui- 
etly and  richly  beautiful  and  filled  with  wonder- 
ful shades  and  tones.  Whereas  the  common  re- 
liance upon  white  to  break  up  inharmony  re- 
sults in  a  brusque,  disjointed,  and  sometimes 
most  unsatisfactory  effect.  Moreover,  white  is 
itself  too  beautiful  to  be  relegated  to  the  thank- 
less role  of  buffer  between  warring  factions! 

There  is  one  other  way  out  of  color  difficul- 


194  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

ties  which  I  must  not  neglect  to  mention — a 
way  that  makes  many  of  the  difficulties  only 
apprehended  after  all,  and  never  actually  met. 
This  is  the  different  time  of  bloom  of  the  plants 
used.  Colors  that  clash  are  seldom  or  never 
seen  in  a  natural  tangle  of  wild  flowers  for  the 
simple  reason  that  the  flowers  which  would 
furnish  unhappy  combinations  of  color  do  not 
blossom  at  the  same  time.  Take  this  into  con- 
sideration in  selecting  and  ordering. 

So  color  really  need  not  be  perplexing — 
even  with  all  its  nice  distinctions.  Do  they 
seem  too  nice.?  And  does  the  garden  planting 
seem  an  appalling  task  with  so  much  to  be  kept 
in  mind.f^  Actually  it  is  much  simpler  worked 
out  in  the  way  suggested  than  any  haphazard 
thrusting  in  here  and  there  of  this  and  that  can 
ever  be;  for  nothing  is  harder  work  or  more 
confusing  than  trying  to  plant  flowers  in  this 
way.  And  the  distinctions,  far  from  being 
overly  nice,  are  perfectly  obvious  when  the  idea 
begins  to  take  shape — and  color — outdoors  in 
the  garden. 

The  diagram  appended,  but  more  especially 
the  plant  lists,  may  furnish  first  aid  to  the  be- 
ginner of  a  rather  more  direct  nature  than  it  is 
possible  to  offer  in  any  other  section  of  selective 
garden  work.     To  annuals  comparatively  little 


FLOWERS  OF  ALL  SEASONS         195 

space  has  been  given;  but  raising  annual  flow- 
ers is  hardly  gardening  in  the  true  sense— in  the 
lasting  sense  which  we  are  considering  here. 
And  as  the  tendency  is  toward  these  plants  and 
away  from  the  permanent  ones  anyway,  I  do 
not  feel  that  their  merits  need  dilating  upon  so 
much  as  their  disadvantages. 


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196 


Planting  Key  Fob  a  Sunny  Location 

1.  DafiFodil Narcissus  pseudo-Narcissus 

2.  Iris Iris  pallida  speciosa. 

3.  Peony Poeonia  officinalis  rosea. 

4.  Peony  (white) Paeonia  officinalis  alba. 

5.  Lupine Lupinus  polyphyllus  Moerheimi. 

6.  Phlox Phlox,  "Miss  Lingard." 

7.  Columbine Aquilegia  Canadensis. 

8.  Larkspur Delphinium. 

9.  Phlox Phlox. 

10.  Day  lily Hemerocallis  flava. 

IL  Lily Lilium  speciosum  ruhrum. 

12.  Veronica Veronica  longifolia  suhsessilis 

13.  Plantain  lily Funhia  suhcordata. 

14.  Bell  flower Campanula  pyramidalis. 

15.  Boltonia Boltonia  latisquama. 

16.  Snake  root Cimicifuga  simplex. 

17.  Hardy  aster Aster  Nova  Anglice. 

18.  Hardy  chrysanthemum Chrysanthemum  (pompon). 

Fob  a  Shady  Location 

1.  Daffodil Narcissus  pseudo-Narcissus. 

2.  Wake  robin Trillium  grandiflorum. 

3.  Saxifrage Saxafraga  cordifolia. 

4.  Wind  flower Anemone  sylvestris. 

5.  False  Solomon's  seal Smiladna  racemosa. 

6.  Phlox Phlox  divaricata  alba  grandiflora. 

7.  Baneberry Actcea  spicata. 

8.  Cardinal  flower Lobelia  cardinalis. 

9.  Meadow  sweet Spircea  palmata  elegans, 

10.  Day  lily Hemerocallis  flava. 

11.  Toad  lily Trycirtus  hirta. 

12.  Monkshood Aconitum  napellus. 

13.  Plantain  lily Funkia  subcordata. 

14.  Blue  bells Mertensia  Virginica. 

15.  Indian  pink Spigelia  Marilandica. 

16.  Snake  root Cimicifuga  simplex. 

17.  Native  aster Aster  corymbosus. 

18.  Globe  flower Trollius  Asiaticus  flore  croceo. 

197 


198 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


List  of  Flowers  for  a  Color  Progression 


Bird'3  eye 

Blanket  flower 

Chrysanthemum 

Tickseed 

Beard  tongue 

Cardinal  flower 

Phlox 

Phlox 

Aster 

Astilbo 

Poppy 

Windflower 

Aster 

Bell  flower 

Gas  plant 

Larkspur 

Bugle 

Iris 

Lupine 

Speedwell 

Day  lily 

Foxglove 

The  transition 


Adonis  vernalis 
Gaillardia  grandiflora 
Chrysanthemum  (pompon) 
Coreopsis  lanceolata 
Penstemon  Torreyi 
Lobelia  cardinalis 
Phlox  "Coquelicot" 
Phlox  "Etna" 
Aster  alpinus 
Astilbe  Davidii 
Papaver  orientate 
Anemone  Japonica 
Aster  Novae  Anglice 
Campanula  persicifolia 
Dictamnus  fraxinella 
Delphinium  variety 
Ajuga  Genevensis 
Iris 

Lupinus  polyphyllus 
Veronica  longifolia 
Hemerocallis  flava 
Digitalis  lanata 
through  green  is,  of  course, 


Spring 

12 

ins. 

Yellow 

Summer 

30 

'• 

Autumn 

30 

" 

to 

Sxmuner 

24 

•• 

Summer 

4 

feet  Scarlet 

Summer 

3 

•• 

Summer 

30 

ins. 

to 

Summer 

30 

" 

Summer 

5 

feet 

Red 

Summer 

4^4 

" 

Summer 

30 

ins. 

to 

Autumn 

2 

feet 

Autumn 

43^ 

" 

Purple 

Summer 

2 

" 

Summer 

30 

ins. 

to 

Summer 

4H  feet 

Spring 

8 

ins. 

Blue 

Summer 

18 

" 

Summer 

4H  feet 

to 

Autumn 

2 

" 

Summer 

3 

feet  YeUow 

Summer 

3 

" 

accomplished  by  foliage. 


Twelve  Plants  for  a  Pink  Garden 

In  their  order  of  flowering 

Spring  beauty  Claytonia  Virginica 

Iris  Iris  Britannicus 

Peony  Pceonia  officinalis  rosea 

Mullein  pink  Lychnis  coronaria 

Sweet  rocket  Hesperis  matroncUia 

Catchfly  Silene  Shafta 

Hollyhock  Althea  rosea 

Phlox  Phlox  pan.,  Artaxis 

Rose  mallow  Hibiscus  Moscheutos 

Stonecrop  Sedum  stoloniferum 

Chrysanthemum  Chrysanthemum 


Trailing 

April,  May 

2-3  feet 

May,  June 

2-3    " 

May,  June 

2  feet 

June,  July 

2    •• 

June,  July 

Sins. 

June,  Sept. 

5-6  feet 

July,  Aug. 

2-3    " 

July,  Aug. 

5-6    •• 

Aug.,  Sept. 

6  ins. 

Aug.,  Sept. 

2-3  feet 

Sept.,  Oct. 

Twelve  Plants  for  a  Blue  Garden 

In  their  order  of  flowering 

Blue  bell  Mertensia  Sibirica  1}4  feet         April,  May 

Bugle  Ajuga  Genevensis  8  ins.  May 

Iiis  Blue  varietiea  2-3  feet        May,  June 


FLOWERS  OF  ALL  SEASONS 


199 


Speedwell 
Italian  Alkanet 
Larkapur 
Giant  bellflower 
Bellflower 
Stokes's  aster 
Bush  clematis 
Speedwell 
Aster 


Veronica  gentianoides 
Anchusa  Italica 
Delphinium  belladonna 
Platycodon  grandiflorum 
Campanula  calycanthema 
Stokesia  cyanea 
Clematis  Davidiana 
Veronica  longifolia 
Aster  loBvis 


IH  " 

May,  June 

3-4    •• 

June  on 

2    •' 

June  on 

2    " 

June,  Oct. 

4-5    " 

July,  Aug. 

2    " 

July,  Oct. 

3    " 

August 

2    •• 

August 

3-4    " 

Sept.,  Oct. 

Twelve  Best  Annuals  for  Quick  Effects 


Floss  flower 

Ageratum 

Blue,  white 

6  inches 

Madwort 

Alyssum 

White 

6      " 

Annual  phlox 

Phlox  Drummondi 

White,  pink,  etc. 

15      " 

Annual  coreopsis 

Calliopsis 

Yellow,  crimson,  brown 

15      " 

Snapdragons 

Antirrhinum 

White,  etc. 

24      " 

Annual  asters 

Asters 

Various 

Various 

Carnations 

Marguerite  type 

Various 

18  inches 

Sweet  sultan 

Centaurea  imperialis  Various 

3-4  feet 

Chrysanthemum 

Garden  type 

White,  yellow,  etc. 

2     " 

Marigold 

Tagetes  varieties 

Yellows 

2     " 

Annual  larkspur 

Delph%7iium  ajacis 

White,  pink,  lilac 

2J^-3  feet 

Stocks 

Maithiola  varieties 

Various 

1-2    " 

Twelve  Effective  Perennial  Combinations 


Delphinium  belladonna 
Campanula  Medium,  rosea 

Clear  blue 
Pink 

6  feet 
3  feet 

HemeroccUis  flava 
Phlox,  "Miss  Lingard" 

Lemon  yellow 
Pure  white 

30  inches 
2  feet 

Lupinus  polyphyllus 
Heuchera  sanguinea 

Blue 

Coral  pink 

3    " 
2    " 

Polemonium  cceruleum 
Papaver  nudicaule 

Bluish  purple 
YeUow 

2    " 

Ifoot 

Liatris  pycnostachia 
Asclepias  tuber osa 

Rose  purple 
Orange 

5  feet 
30  inches 

Digitalis  grandiflora 
Lychnis  Chalcedonica 

Straw  yeUow 
Orange-scarlet 

3^  feet 
2-3    " 

Physostegia  Virginica 
Scabiosa  Caucasica 

Pink 
Lavender 

4-6    " 
2    " 

200 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


Salvia  Pitcheri 
Polygonum  Compactum 

Gentian  blue 
White 

4    " 

18  inches 

Penstemon  barbatus  Torreyi 
Hypericum  Moserianum 

Scarlet 
Deep  yellow 

4  feet 
2    •• 

Lythrum  roseum  superbum 
Slokesia  cyanea  alba 

Rose  pink 
White 

3-4  feet 
18  inches 

Veronica  longifolia  subsessilia 
Polygonum  compactum 

Deep  blue 
White 

3  feet 
15  inches 

Phlox,  "Frederick  Passy,"  "la  Vague,"  "Eclaireur,"  and  "Champs 
Elysee,"  furnishing  a  color  progression  from  palest  mauve  to  deep  rose- 
violet. 


'Iram,  indeed,  is  gone  with  all  its  Rose, 
And  Jamshyd's  Sev'n-ring'd  Cup  where  no  one  knows; 

But  still  the  Vine  her  ancient  Ruby  yields. 
And  still  a  Garden  by  the  water  blows." 

— Rubaiyat  of  Omar  Khayyam. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

Vines,  Decorative  and  Useful 

VINES  more  quickly  than  anything  else  unite 
a  house  with  the  ground,  hence  they  are  the 
first  things  which  may  and  should  be  planted, 
rather  than  the  last,  although  the  latter  has  been 
more  generally  the  custom.  They  give  finish  to 
the  most  barren  place  in  a  single  summer,  and, 
rightly  handled,  afford  an  amount  of  shade  equal 
to  years  of  growth  of  trees — besides  furnishing 
very  beautiful  bloom  if  the  purely  ornamental 
kinds  are  used,  or  an  abundance  of  fruit  if  the 
grape  is  included.  Moreover,  all  this  is  done 
with  the  very  least  use  of  ground  space;  where 
there  is  room  for  nothing  at  all  literally,  in  the 
way  of  a  garden,  there  is  still  room  for  a  vine, 
or  for  several. 

201 


ao^         COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

With  vines  as  with  all  other  garden  material 
I  would  suggest  the  useful  always  in  goodly  pro- 
portion; yet  there  are  a  few  that  are  purely  or- 
namental which  it  seems  quite  impossible,  and 
actually  is  unnecessary,  to  do  without.  One  of 
these  is  the  honeysuckle — Lonicera  Halleana — 
with  its  ravishing  odor  that  saturates  the  nights 
and  days  during  its  period  of  bloom,  bathing  the 
senses  in  delight.  Another  is  the  wistaria — 
Wistaria  Chinensis — that  for  pure  beauty  is  un- 
rivaled by  any  other  climbing  plant  and  by  few 
indeed  of  an}^  kind.  And  still  another,  for  shade 
and  sturdy,  clean  thrift,  is  the  kudzu  vine — 
Pueraria  Thunbergiana — a  marvel  of  rapid 
growth  and  of  loose  and  graceful  yet  overlap- 
ping green,  that  throws  a  perfect  shade  without 
being  too  dense  and  heavy  in  effect.  Finally 
there  is  the  Boston  ivy — Ampelopsis  tricuspidata 
or  A.  Veitchi — which  is  and  always  will  be  with- 
out a  rival  for  covering  walls,  when  a  close  and 
somewhat  formal  growth  is  desired.  For  this 
does  no  injury  to  the  walls,  its  flat  little  disk- 
fingers  simply  sticking  tight  by  some  process 
peculiar  to  themselves  and  never  carrying  it 
under  nor  around  shingles  or  boards  or  bricks. 
I  do  not  find,  either,  that  this  vine  harbors 
dampness  if  planted  on  open  walls  as  it  likes  to 
be,  where  there  is  a  sweep  of  wind  and  sun. 


DECORATIVE  VINES  203 

Which  brings  us  to  the  question  of  vine  location 
in  general — an  important  question  if  the  preju- 
dice which  many  cherish  against  the  use  of 
vines  at  all  upon  a  dwelling  is  to  be  met. 

We  must  first  realize  that  there  are  two  kinds 
of  vines,  broadly  speaking;  the  tight,  close 
climbers  like  Boston  ivy  and  the  true  ivies — 
Hedera — and  the  loose,  open  climbers  like  wis- 
taria and  honeysuckle.  This  difference  is  due 
to  the  difference  in  climbing  habit,  the  close 
climbers  being  those  which  attach  themselves 
to  the  surface  up  which  they  ascend  and  liter- 
ally grasp  it  hard  and  fast,  while  the  loose  climb- 
ers twine  themselves  around  anything  which 
they  may  find  to  embrace  and  work  their  way 
up  more  negligently.  The  former  do  not  of 
course  need  anything  but  a  wall  to  help  them 
rise,  while  the  latter  are  utterly  dependent  upon 
some  medium  of  ascent  such  as  a  trellis — or  a 
wire  or  rope. 

The  kind  of  vine,  according  to  this  division 
between  them,  will  have  much  to  do  with  fixing 
its  proper  use.  Obviously  the  loose  and  conse- 
quently more  airy  growth  which  allows  free 
circulation  beneath  it  would  seem  to  be  better 
suited  to  wooden  buildings  than  the  compact 
and  tight  growing  disk  climbers.  But  both 
kinds  should  be  kept  out  of  the  angles  of  all 


204  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

buildings  whether  they  are  made  of  wood  or 
masonry,  for  vines  not  only  suffer  themselves  in 
such  recessed  locations,  but  they  are  distinctly 
a  detraction  from  the  appearance  of  a  place 
when  so  situated.  For  neither  corners  nor  the 
apex  of  angles  should  ever  be  obscured  by 
planting;  they  must  be  left  clean  and  open  if 
the  building  is  to  retain  character  and  strength. 

Either  flat  wall  composing  such  an  angle 
may  be  trellised  for  the  support  of  one  of  the 
open  climbers,  however,  with  good  effect,  if  the 
vine  is  planted  well  out  on  the  wall  and  not  at 
or  near  the  inner  corner.  And  trellises  them- 
selves are  very  charming  ornamental  features 
on  the  outside  of  a  building,  when  well  designed 
and  executed.  An  especially  picturesque  effect 
results  from  the  use  of  them  horizontally  above 
the  windows  of  the  lower  floor.  So  placed, 
they  afford  opportunity  for  very  much  ex- 
tended growth  to  every  vine  on  them;  and 
indeed  two  or  three  plants,  carried  by  means  of 
an  upright  trellis  to  these  transverse  supports, 
will  creep  along  and  do  the  work  of  twice  or 
thrice  their  number  in  a  tracery  of  airy  branches 
against  the  background  of  the  house. 

Honeysuckle  is  particularly  suited  to  this 
method  of  trellising,  for  its  lower  growth  is 
usually  light  anyway,  while  its  top  growth  is 


DECORATIVE  VINES  205 

correspondingly  heavy.  Consequently  it  does 
best  when  it  is  encouraged  to  go  on  at  the  tips 
and  given  some  help  to  this  end.  The  shower 
of  fragrance  which  it  constantly  pours  forth 
from  an  elevated  position,  too,  makes  this  my 
favorite  way  of  using  it — for  it  fills  upstairs  as 
well  as  down,  indoors  as  well  as  out,  with  its 
sweetness. 

To  share  this  lattice  with  the  honeysuckle 
plant  a  clematis  or  two — not  so  near  it  that 
they  intermingle,  but  near  enough  that  there 
may  be  bloom  and  sweetness  over  a  longer 
period.  The  Japanese  variety  that  is  so  univer- 
sally grown — Clematis  paniculata — flings  abroad 
its  foaming  mass  of  white  bloom  in  August, 
after  the  honeysuckle  has  finished,  save  for  here 
and  there  a  fugitive  clump  of  blossoms.  It  also 
is  not  only  deficient  in  lower  growth,  but  weak 
as  well;  hence  its  ascending  trellis  must  be  very 
strong  and  immovable  that  it  may  not  whip 
about  and  be  injured  at  the  ground. 

The  vines  which  are  planted  to  give  shade  to 
a  porch  or  any  portion  of  a  house  fulfill  their 
purpose  infinitely  better  when  carried  up  to  a 
projecting  support  over  which  they  may  clam- 
ber than  when  simply  grown  to  form  an  upright 
wall  or  screen  of  vegetation.  This  old  way  of 
closing  in  with  them  as  if  they  were  curtains 


206  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

shuts  out  the  light  as  well  as  the  sun,  excludes 
much  air,  and  of  course  cuts  off  any  view  which 
there  may  be.  A  light  trellis  at  the  cornice 
line,  projecting  two  or  three  feet  and  suspended 
from  chains  from  above  or  supported  on  brack- 
ets, leaves,  on  the  contrary,  unobstructed  way 
for  light  and  breeze  and  outlook  and  gives  a 
charming  open,  woodsy  effect  of  green  and 
leafy  roof,  in  place  of  the  shut-in  restraint  of 
the  flat  screen.  Wistaria  trained  to  such  a  sup- 
port is  delightful,  for  its  great  racemes  of  bloom 
then  hang  pendulous  overhead.  Flat-leaved 
vines  also,  such  as  the  kudzu  vine  or  the  grape, 
lend  themselves  well  to  clothing  this  kind  of 
extended  framework;  but  clematis  and  honey- 
suckle and  lighter  vines  generally  will  not  be 
so  satisfactory,  although  the  common  wood- 
bine or  Virginia  creeper — Ainpelopsis  quinque- 
folia — is  fairly  good. 

Where  this  outstanding  support  is  not  pos- 
sible, or  not  fancied,  and  the  vines  may  there- 
fore only  travel  up  before  a  porch,  confine  their 
growth  to  the  columns  and  leave  the  open 
spaces  between  these  O'pen — unless  the  planting 
is  for  the  express  purpose  of  forming  a  screen. 
For  vines  should  be  treated  as  the  draper}^  of 
the  plant  world  and  caught  back  so  that  their 
supporting  column  or  whatever  it  may  be  is 


DECORATIVE  VINES  207 

fully  realized.  Never  let  them  obscure  entirely 
the  object  which  they  depend  upon,  even  though 
that  may  be  only  a  little  common  arbor  ever  so 
crudely  built.  Here  and  there  a  line  to  show 
structural  definiteness  should  always  remain 
uncovered;  if  it  does  not,  a  shapeless  lump 
is  all  that  in  time  will  be  discernible — a  kind 
of  elephantine  monstrosity  without  grace  or 
beauty.  When  any  garden  retreat  gets  thus 
deeply  buried,  it  ceases  to  be  a  pleasant  place 
to  loiter,  which  is  of  course  the  very  worst  thing 
that  can  happen  to  it  and  to  the  garden  wherein 
it  stands.  For  usableness  is  above  all  else  the 
one  attribute  which  must  never  be  lost. 

Flowering  vines  generally  are  more  advan- 
tageously placed  away  from  the  dwelling  than 
against  it,  both  for  the  full  enjoyment  of  them 
from  its  windows  and  porches,  and  for  the  better 
care  of  the  vines  themselves,  especially  those  of 
certain  species.  Honeysuckle  and  wistaria  are 
exceptions  to  this,  but  of  these  only  the  latter 
is  at  all  showy  in  flower.  Climbing  roses  es- 
pecially are  not  good  subjects  for  house  planting 
because  practically  all  roses,  to  be  kept  in  prime 
condition,  must  be  sprayed  frequently.  Of 
course  spray  cannot  reach  both  sides  of  a  plant 
which  is  exposed  only  on  one;  and  equally  of 
course  spray  applied  to  the  rose  against  the 


208  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

house  will  surely  be  applied  to  the  house  also — 
and  trickle  down  in  ugly  streaks  and  stain  it. 
Limit  the  planting  against  the  house  therefore 
to  the  Boston  ivy,  wistaria,  honeysuckle,  and 
clematis,  with  a  kudzu  vine  if  there  is  a  large 
space  to  be  covered. 

All  of  these  may  be  used,  or  only  one  or  two; 
whatever  the  number  of  plants  required,  how- 
ever, do  not  go  above  these  five  named  species 
unless  a  screen  is  wanted  instead  of  shade,  as 
may  sometimes  be  the  case.  One  of  the  best 
vines  for  use  under  these  circumstances  is  the 
five-fingered  akebi — Akehia  quinata.  Its  merit 
lies  in  its  particularly  clean  and  rather  evenly 
overlapping  loose  and  graceful  leaves,  which 
form  an  impenetrable  barrier  to  the  vision  that 
may  seek  to  penetrate  from  without,  making  at 
the  same  time  a  grateful  and  attractive  object 
to  look  upon — which  a  screen  should  always  be. 

Boston  ivy  I  should  always  plant  to  clothe 
foundations  and  broad,  unbroken  spaces  on  a 
building.  Keep  it  within  bounds,  however,  and 
never  let  it  round  off  corners  nor  hide  window 
frames,  columns,  or  other  structural  features. 
Indeed  this  is  the  one  vine  which  should  never 
approach  a  supporting  member,  for  it  clothes 
everything  it  grows  upon  so  completely  that  the 
shape  of  it  is  quite  concealed  and  becomes  ac- 


DECORATIVE  VINES  209 

cordingly  clumsy.  Only  the  loose  and  airy 
growth  that  twines  should  be  planted  where  sup- 
ports of  any  kind  are  involved.  This  leaves 
their  form  fully  revealed  always,  even  though 
festooned  and  garlanded. 

For  planting  about  a  summerhouse  almost 
any  favorite  may  be  used.  Fragrance  there 
certainly  should  be,  which  either  honeysuckle 
or  clematis  or  both  may  furnish;  then  there  is 
the  showy  trumpet  creeper— Tecoma  radicans— 
which  ought  to  be  given  space  somewhere.  No- 
where is  it  better  than  on  an  arbor,  for  its 
vivid  flowers  are  seen  to  the  greatest  advantage 
amidst  a  mass  of  green  such  as  the  tangle  about 
such  a  structure  affords.  Here,  too,  there  should 
be  at  least  one  rose;  add  to  this  the  crimson- 
glory  vine — Vitis  Coignetice — for  its  beautiful 
foliage  and  coloring,  and  the  combmation  will 
be  delightful  at  all  times  of  the  summer  and  fall. 

Arbors  and  pergolas  are  the  home  of  the 
grape,  and  so  on  these  there  is  no  reason  nor 
excuse  for  not  combining  utility  and  beauty. 
No  other  foliage  has  greater  claim  to  regard 
than  the  leaf  of  the  grape,  no  bloom  is  more  de- 
hciously  fragrant,  nor  is  there  anything  more 
beautiful  than  the  clusters  of  fruit  as  they  ripen, 
depending  overhead.  So  whatever  the  style  of 
an  arbor  may  be,  grapes  may  and  should  be 


210  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

used  on  it,  likewise  on  the  arbor's  Italian  cousin 
— or  brother — the  pergola.  Nothing  else  is 
truly  suitable  and  appropriate. 

Of  annual  vines  there  is  only  this  to  say;  the 
place  which  gives  space  to  them  is  sacrificing 
permanent  beauty  to  very  little  gain  in  even 
present  effects.  For  good  hardy  vines,  planted 
in  the  spring  or  fall,  will  grow  almost  as  much 
in  their  first  summer  as  any  annual.  Forty  to 
fifty  feet  in  a  single  season  is  the  average  growth 
of  the  kudzu  vine,  with  a  capacity  for  surface 
covering  that  is  immense,  each  long  extending 
branch  sending  out  side  shoots  and  spreading 
to  an  unbelievable  degree.  And  the  other  hardy 
vines  which  are  useful  for  shade  or  screen  are 
none  of  them  slow  growing.  So  there  is  nothing 
gained  by  introducing  the  annuals,  save  where 
they  will  not  conflict  with,  or  hinder,  the  peren- 
nial growth. 

The  real  gain  in  time  and  effect  comes  through 
getting  vines  set  out  the  instant  building  opera- 
tions are  over.  Indeed  they  need  not  be  over 
altogether;  all  that  is  necessary  to  admit  vine 
planting  is  a  cleaned  up  base  line  about  the  dwell- 
ing— and  suflBcient  protection  to  the  vines  after 
they  are  in  the  ground  to  keep  them  from  being 
trampled.  Stakes  driven  around  them  will  do 
this;  and  lumber  may  be  lying  about  and  work- 


DECORATIVE  VINES  211 

men  may  come  and  go  without  doing  a  bit  of 
harm,  or  hindering  the  establishment  of  vines 
thus  forehandedly  started,  in  the  least.  Given 
a  chance  thus  to  get  to  work  just  as  soon  as  the 
ground  is  available  for  them,  it  is  astonishing  to 
see  what  they  will  accomplish  by  the  time  the 
place  generally  is  graded  and  finished  and  ready 
for  the  rest  of  the  planting.  And  not  only  the 
dwelling,  but  every  building  large  or  small  may 
have  its  allowance  of  these  widely  useful  plants. 
They  are  the  one  kind  of  growth  that  no  place 
can  do  without,  whatever  its  magnitude,  and 
that  every  place  may  enjoy,  however  tiny  it  be. 


"Begin  the  art  of  finding  peace. 
Beloved:  it  is  art,  no  less. 
Sometimes  we  find  it  hid  beneath 

The  orchards  in  their  springtime  dress; 
Sometimes  one  finds  it  in  oak  woods, 

Sometimes  in  dazzling  mountain-snows; 
In  books,  sometimes.     But  pray  begin 
By  finding  it  within  a  rose." 
— With  a  Rose,  to  Brunhilde  — Vachel  Lindsay. 

CHAPTER  XV 

Roses  and  Their  Special  Culture 

OF  all  things  the  rose  is  the  most  adaptable, 
so  whatever  the  style  or  the  size  of  a  garden 
there  are  roses  suitable  for  it — roses  that  are 
shrubs,  others  that  are  climbing  and  will  grow 
where  there  is  room  for  nothing  at  all,  and  still 
others  that  require  as  exclusive  possession  of 
their  particular  situation  as  the  haughtiest  vege- 
table. Which  is  not  the  far-fetched  simile  that 
it  may  appear,  since  I  know  of  nothing  that  is 
more  exacting  than  almost  any  vegetable  at  all ! 
Do  we  not  give  them  free  rein  and  cater  to  all 
their  little  fads  as  if  they  were  royalties — as  in- 
deed they  are.? 


ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        213 

And  so  are  some  roses.  But  not  all,  happily. 
Whatever  the  size  of  a  garden  therefore  I  re- 
peat, and  wherever  it  may  be,  roses  of  one  kind 
or  another  are  to  be  anticipated  and  planned 
for  and  prepared  for.  Hence  a  knowledge  of 
the  rose  in  its  variously  embodied  forms  is  de- 
sirable if  not  essential.  I  am  therefore  going 
to  begin  at  the  beginning — not  of  the  rose's 
history,  for  that  is  too  far  back  in  the  dim 
past,  but  at  the  beginning  of  the  knowledge  and 
understanding  of  roses  as  we  have  them  to-day 
available  for  gardens. 

This  beginning  has  to  do  with  the  classes  of 
roses;  and  when  these  classes  are  understood 
many  of  the  questions  that  puzzle  the  casual 
observer  of  the  flower's  peculiarities — fancied — 
will  be  answered.  There  are,  in  the  first  place, 
roses  from  practically  every  part  of  the  northern 
hemisphere,  "from  the  mountains  of  Mexico  to 
Hudson's  Bay,  from  the  coast  of  Barbary  to 
Sweden,  in  Lapland  and  Siberia,  from  Spain  to 
the  Indies,  China  and  Kamschatka."  Half  the 
species  have  been  found  in  Asia  and  of  these  a 
little  more  than  half  are  natives  of  Russian  do- 
minions and  the  country  adjoining;  one  comes 
from  Persia,  fifteen  come  from  China  and  two 
of  these  also  are  found  in  northern  India,  to- 
gether with  four  others  found  only  there. 


214  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

The  parents,  grandparents,  great-grandpar- 
ents and  so  on  of  our  present-day  garden  roses 
are  not  all  of  these,  by  any  means;  and  yet  when 
one  attempts  to  follow  the  geneological  lines  of 
almost  any  individual,  or  even  class,  back  to 
their  inception,  it  almost  appears  that  they  must 
be!  For  rose  enthusiasts  from  away  back  of  the 
days  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  have  been  at 
work  raising  roses  and  intermingling  species, 
until  it  is  practically  impossible,  even  for  the 
most  careful  and  patient  botanist,  to  sort  out 
which  from  other.  So  it  all  resolves  into  famil- 
iarizing oneself  with  about  half  a  dozen  present- 
day  classes — unless  further  study  of  the  subject 
is  made  just  for  the  fun  of  knowing. 

These  classes  are  the  Hybrid  Perpetual,  the 
Tea,  the  Hybrid  Tea,  the  Rugosa,  and  the  Wich- 
uraiana.  There  may  also  be  a  speaking  ac- 
quaintance with  the  Multiflora  and  the  Noi- 
sette, but  this  need  not  be  worried  about  in  the 
beginning.  Indeed  these  classifications  may  be 
lumped  off  in  two  general  sections,  according  to 
natural  habit,  and  one  labeled  summer  flowering 
and  the  other  summer-and-autumn  flowering. 
Yet  it  is  not  enough  to  adhere  to  these  two  di- 
visions; for  in  buying  plants  and  tending  them 
and  indeed  in  handling  them  at  all,  it  is  really 
necessary  to  know  with  a  fair  degree  of  exacti- 


ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        215 

tude  what  their  family  tradition  and  inheri- 
tance is. 

The  first  mentioned — the  Hybrid  Perpetual 
group — boasts  an  almost  endless  number  of  hy- 
brids, derived  from  crossings  and  recrossings  and 
intercrossings  of  various  hardy  roses,  and  very 
beautiful  indeed  are  the  most  of  them;  but  to 
the  novice  in  rose  culture  I  always  feel  it  best 
to  call  attention  to  just  one  thing  characteristic 
of  this  class — namely,  that  it  is  not  perpetual  in 
the  sense  of  blooming  continuously.  Usually 
the  significance  of  the  name  is  supposed  to  be 
something  of  this  sort,  whereas  it  probably  re- 
fers to  the  hardiness  of  the  plants,  which 
are  truly  perpetual  or  constant,  as  all  hardy 
plants  are,  regardless  of  the  severity  of  a 
winter. 

Do  not  therefore  buy  Hybrid  Perpetuals,  or 
H.  P.  roses  as  they  are  commonly  termed,  under 
the  impression  that  they  will  be  perpetually  in 
bloom.  A  few  in  the  class  are  distinctly  more 
abundant  bloomers  than  the  class  as  a  whole; 
and  some  blossom  f ugitively  a  second  time,  after 
an  interval  of  rest  following  their  bloom  at  the 
usual  season  of  rose  flower,  generally  in  June. 
But  very  few  indeed  bloom  throughout  the  sea- 
son. All  are  perfectly  hardy  however,  and  grow 
in  any  climate  without  protection.    Hence  they 


216  COME  INTO  THE  GiVRDEN 

are  highly  desirable  and  never  to  be  omitted 
from  the  garden. 

The  Tea  roses  are  a  group  derived  from  the 
China  or  Bengal  rose,  delicate  in  habit  of 
growth  and  actually  blooming  every  month  all 
through  the  summer.  In  passing  I  may  say 
that  the  distinct  fragrance  of  tea  which  charac- 
terizes them  appeals  to  the  imagination,  since 
they  are  from  the  same  parts  of  the  world  that 
furnish  the  fragrant  brew.  And  this  will  help 
the  unfamiliar  student  to  remember  where  they 
come  from.  For  the  hint  of  that  fragrance,  not 
infrequently  combined  with  what  we  regard  as 
the  true  rose  odor,  spells  Tea  ancestry  in  any 
rose,  anywhere;  which  is  something  to  be  re- 
garded with  interest,  since  Tea  ancestry  may 
insure  the  persistent  blooming  that  distinguishes 
the  pure  Tea  rose. 

Which  brings  us  to  the  roses  "par  excellence  of 
to-day — the  Hybrid  Tea  or,  reduced  to  common 
speech,  the  H.  T.  roses,  a  great  class  of  really 
glorious  quality,  produced  by  crossing  roses  in 
the  Hybrid  Perpetual  group  with  roses  in  the 
Tea  group,  to  the  everlasting  improvement  of 
each.  That  is,  the  hardier  blood  of  the  Hybrid 
Perpetuals  stiffens  up  the  Teas,  as  it  were,  and 
gives  the  offspring  the  endurance  necessary  to 
make  them  hardy,  while  the  ever-blooming  qual- 


ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        217 

ity  of  the  Tea  rose  contributes  to  the  Hybrid 
Tea  this  tendency  to  flower  all  summer  through; 
and  so  the  result  is  a  hardy  or  very  nearly 
hardy,  ever-blooming  rose  that  is  sometimes  tea 
scented,  sometimes  rose  fragrant,  and  sometimes 
a  combination  of  both. 

As  to  this  matter  of  fragrance  let  me  say 
right  here  that  the  rose  that  lacks  it  is,  to  my 
mind,  not  to  be  held  eligible  for  any  garden.  For 
the  rose  is,  above  all  other  things,  a  flower  to  be 
grown  for  the  purpose  of  cutting  and  the  enjoy- 
ment of  the  individual  that  comes  with  this  close 
contact.  And  while  form  and  color  are  delights 
to  excite  the  greatest  admiration  and  pleasure 
in  the  observer,  it  is  the  sweetness  of  the  flower 
after  all  that  ravishes  the  sense  and  transports 
the  being.  Red  roses  are  richest  in  this  fra- 
grance, pale  roses  most  delicate  or  lacking  it 
altogether,  and  yellow  roses  or  roses  bordering 
on  that  shade,  most  mysteriously  odorous  of  tea. 

Of  the  Rugosa  class  and  the  others  mentioned 
I  shall  speak  later;  those  just  described  I  want 
to  consider  while  they  are  fresh  before  us — the 
manner  of  growing  them  and  the  methods  of 
handling  them  generally — for  these  are  the  three 
classes  from  which  the  most  of  roses  grown  in 
rose  gardens,  come.  In  the  first  place,  how 
ought  they  to  be  used  in  the  garden.^    And  then. 


218  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

as  a  second  question,  how  may  they  be  adapted 
to  the  limited  opportunities  of  a  limited  garden? 

Answering  the  first,  they  ought  never  to  be 
used  as  we  use  shrubs  because  they  are  not 
shrubs,  however  shrubby  certain  ones  may  be 
in  their  habit  of  growth.  (The  Rugosas  are 
shrubs  and  used  as  such,  as  will  be  seen  when 
they  are  considered.)  These  roses  are  cultivated 
plants  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word,  and  there- 
fore plants  requiring  cultivation.  And  this 
brings  us  to  the  necessity  of  planting  them  only 
where  cultivation  is  possible;  in  other  words  in 
places  specially  prepared  for  them,  where  their 
peculiar  needs  may  be  easily  met  and  invariably 
regarded.  They  may  not  be  scattered  here  and 
there  nor  intermingled  with  shrubs  nor  utilized 
as  a  screen  nor  massed  as  a  border  planting 
nor  any  of  the  other  things  that  may  be  done 
with  some  things.  They  must  be  individually 
planted  for  their  own  sake  alone,  precisely  as  a 
cabbage  or  a  cauliflower  is  planted — and  tended 
accordingly. 

Obviously  therefore,  the  place  for  roses  is  in 
a  rose  garden;  and  there  is  no  gainsaying  this, 
however  difficult  it  may  sound.  Is  it  difficult, 
however?  Not  unless  it  is  made  so;  for,  after  all, 
a  rose  garden  need  not  be  large  and  it  need  not 
be  set  apart  by  any  walls  or  barriers  of  extraor- 


ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        219 

dinary  character.  All  that  it  really  needs  is 
recognition  as  a  rose  garden,  and  a  habit  of 
thought  that  accepts  its  existence  and  its  some- 
what different  concepts  as  proper  and  to  be 
granted.  It  need  be  nothing  more  than  one 
unbroken  plot  set  apart  for  these  plants,  if  this 
is  all  that  is  possible — what  we  might  call  a  bed 
if  that  term  and  thought  were  not  utterly  taboo 
in  the  right  conception  of  the  garden.  Such  a 
little  garden  space  given  over  to  the  rose  is 
better  expressed  perhaps  by  the  term  rosary; 
but  terms  do  not  greatly  matter  of  course  if  the 
thing  itself  is  right. 

The  essential  is  that  every  rose  plant  shall 
be  easily  reached — shall  be  accessible  from  the 
ground  without  stepping  upon  the  loose,  culti- 
vated earth  of  the  bed — that  every  plant  shall 
be  free  from  interference  from  every  other  plant 
in  the  assemblage,  and  that  there  be  no  inter- 
ference below  ground  from  the  roots  of  trees  or 
shrubs  growing  near  by,  nor  overhead  by  reason 
of  their  shade.  The  great  rosarian  and  good 
Dean  Hole  tells  those  who  look  for  advice  that 
"the  rose  garden  must  not  be  in  an  exposed 
situation.  It  must  have  shelter  but  it  must  not 
have  shade.  No  boughs  may  darken,  no  drip 
may  saturate,  no  roots  may  rob  the  rose." 

Further  than   this  it  only   remains   to  say 


220  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

roses  require  precisely  the  same  almost  daily 
cultivation  of  the  surface  of  the  soil  above  their 
roots  that  vegetables  require.  Provide  them 
with  such  a  garden  all  to  themselves  or  with 
such  a  rosary  as  will  furnish  all  of  these  things 
and  you  have  done  all  that  may  be  done — and 
you  will  have  roses  accordingly. 

The  kind  of  soil  which  is  suitable  for  the  Hy- 
brid Perpetual  and  Hybrid  Tea  roses  is  prac- 
tically the  same,  except  that  the  latter  have  not 
the  same  taste  for  clay  admixture  that  the  for- 
mer have.  It  can  hardly  be  too  rich  and  heavy 
for  Hybrid  Perpetual  roses,  but  Teas  and  Hy- 
brid Teas  will  do  better  if  such  a  soil  is  made 
lighter  and  warmer  by  having  a  portion  of  sand 
worked  through  it.  When  it  comes  to  the  actual 
mixing  of  a  soil,  follow  the  proportions  of  one 
part  well  decomposed  stable  manure  to  three 
parts  of  good  rich  loam  or  vegetable  mould  such 
as  woods  earth  represents.  This  does  not  mean 
that  a  special  soil  must  be  made  up  in  order  to 
grow  roses;  but  this  is  the  ideal  which  ought  to 
be  approximated  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  order 
to  grow  the  best  roses.  The  soil  of  a  good  vege- 
table garden,  or  such  soil  as  will  furnish  a  good 
vegetable  garden  when  it  is  worked  up,  is  per- 
fectly all  right  for  roses,  when  suitably  enriched 
with  manure. 


ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        221 

Many  times  advice  is  given  to  dig  all  the  soil 
out  of  the  proposed  rose  beds  to  a  depth  of  two 
feet  or  more  and  replace  it  with  soil  specially 
mixed  and  worked  over  for  the  purpose.  Under 
some  circumstances  this  should  be  done;  and 
where  it  is  done,  be  sure  that  no  part  of  the  work 
is  slighted.  Have  the  space  to  be  planted  ex- 
cavated to  the  proper  depth — two  feet  to  thirty 
inches  at  the  least,  for  roses  are  deep  rooted 
plants  and  the  purpose  is  to  provide  perfect 
drainage  below  their  roots — and  as  the  exca- 
vating is  done,  pile  the  sods,  the  top  soil,  and  the 
subsoil  in  separate  piles. 

Once  down  to  the  level  decided  upon,  the 
floor  of  the  excavation  should  be  loosened  up 
well  with  a  pick  and  a  layer  of  stones,  cinders, 
broken  bricks,  or  gravel — any  permanent  drain- 
age material — spread  upon  it  from  three  to  five 
or  six  inches  in  depth.  Upon  this  throw  in  the 
subsoil,  mixed  with  one  quarter  its  bulk  of  well- 
decomposed  stable  manure — from  cow  stables, 
preferably — then  put  in  the  sod,  which  should 
be  broken  up  thoroughly  and  also  mixed  with 
one  quarter  its  bulk  of  manure;  and  last  of  all 
fill  in  with  the  top  soil  into  which  no  manure 
need  be  mixed.  This  final  layer  may  come 
three  inches  above  the  adjoining  earth,  for  when 
the  space  finally  settles,  under  the  action  of  the 


222  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

elements,  it  will  be  a  little  less  than  level  with 
the  unworked  ground  around — which  is  pre- 
cisely what  it  should  be  to  catch  and  hold  the 
moisture  when  it  rains. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  go  to  this  great  pains 
always  however,  and  for  the  gardener  who  has 
average  soil  to  work  with  I  would  not  suggest 
it,  unless  his  ambition  is  to  grow  something  ex- 
ceptional in  the  way  of  roses.  For  as  I  have 
said,  rosei^  will  almost  certainly  grow  practically 
anywhere,  and  if  you  will  remember  that  the 
Hybrid  Perpetuals  will  7iot  do  well  in  a  light 
soil — that  they  do  positively  require  a  heavy, 
strong,  clay — and  that  Hybrid  Teas  will  do  best 
in  a  light  soil,  but  that  both  require  absolutely 
perfect  drainage;  that  both  need  a  root-bed 
made  up  of  at  least  one-quarter  its  bulk  of  thor- 
oughly decomposed  stable  manure  (but  that 
this  must  not  have  lain  out  in  the  open  and  so 
lost  its  enriching  elements) ,  you  will  be  sure  of 
success.  Examine  the  proposed  site  of  the  roses, 
use  common  sense  to  bring  it  to  the  proper  con- 
dition, and  then  proceed. 

As  they  are  larger  and  stronger  growing 
plants  Hybrid  Perpetuals  are  usually  set  further 
apart  in  the  beds  than  Hybrid  Teas,  the  proper 
distance  between  them  being  two  and  a  half  feet 
while  between  the  Teas  and  Hybrid  Teas  it  is 


Whether  trailing  over  a  bank  or  supported  as  here,  climb- 
ing roses  are  one  of  the  most  dramatic  elements  in  all 
the  world  of  flowers  as  well  as  one  of  the  least  capricious 


ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        223 

only  necessary  to  allow  two  feet.  If  a  double 
row  is  to  be  planted  in  a  bed — and  more  than  a 
double  row  is  not  advisable,  since  every  plant 
must  be  accessible  from  the  outside  of  the  bed 
— a  width  over-all  of  four  feet  will  make  it  pos- 
sible to  set  the  plants  nine  inches  from  the  edge 
of  the  bed  and  the  required  distance  apart; 
they  may  be  staggered  instead  of  planted  di- 
rectly opposite  each  other  and  enough  space 
gained  on  a  bed  of  ten  feet  in  length  for  at  least 
two  extra  plants.  I  do  not  like  the  effect  as  well 
however  as  I  do  when  they  are  placed  evenly 
along  the  two  sides  and  opposite — and  the  gain 
is  after  all  inappreciable. 

So  much  for  the  roses  of  high  culture,  which 
give  us  the  glorious  double  and  exquisitely 
formed  flowers  we  commonly  visualize  at  the 
mention  of  the  rose.  That  they  are  the  result 
of  high  culture,  that  they  are  truly  patricians 
with  an  almost  endless  line  of  noble  blood  back 
of  them  we  have  only  to  examine  the  wild  roses 
of  the  different  parts  of  the  world  to  see.  For 
in  the  uncultivated  rose  **the  corolla  is  com- 
posed of  five  heart-shaped  petals,  which  consti- 
tute the  rose  in  its  single  or  natural  state" — as 
who  does  not  know,  since  they  grow  wild  every- 
where in  our  country  as  well  as  in  most  others. 

The  wild  roses  of  different  parts  of  the  world 


224  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

vary  however,  quite  as  much  as  the  races  of 
men;  and  the  wild  rose  of  Japan,  Corea,  and 
Northern  China  is  so  much  more  beautiful  than 
any  other  and  so  much  finer  in  every  way  that 
it  occupies  a  place  quite  by  itself  in  the  rose 
world.  This  is  the  Rugosa  or  Ramanas  rose,  in- 
troduced to  the  western  world  about  1885,  and 
immediately  firing  the  imagination  of  rose  grow- 
ers and  horticulturists  in  Europe  and  America, 
who  foresaw  in  future  hybrids  from  it  the  ideal 
perfectly  hardy  and  continuously  blooming  roses 
they  had  so  long  sought  to  produce.  This  of 
course  was  the  beginning  of  the  Rugosa  group. 

Of  these  possibilities  suffice  to  say  that  cer- 
tain splendid  roses  already  offered  bear  out 
their  expectations  and  stimulate  their  endeavors 
further;  but  these  are  not  of  as  great  interest  to 
us  here  and  now  as  the  type  itself,  and  its  several 
variations  that  still  maintain  the  characteristics 
of  the  original.  It  is  a  delightful  shrub,  notwith- 
standing it  is  a  rose,  and  perfectly  at  home  in 
the  midst  of  a  shrubbery  mass  where  its  splendid 
foliage,  rich  green  in  color  and  deeply  rugose  or 
creased  and  wrinkled,  furnishes  an  unusually 
vivid  element.  Its  large  pink  or  white  single 
blossoms  (or  semidouble  as  they  are  in  some  of 
its  variants)  are  produced  freely  in  early  sum- 
mer and  at  intervals  all  summer;  that  is,  there 


ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        225 

are  usually  blossoms  here  and  there  over  a  bush, 
all  summer  long — and  the  fragrance  of  even  a 
solitary  flower  is  sufficient  to  be  noticeable  in 
passing  the  plant.  Its  scent  indeed  is  excep- 
tional in  that  it  seems  to  be  so  abundant  without 
being  strong.  In  which  connection  it  is  in- 
teresting to  know  that  it  was  used  a  thousand 
years  ago  by  the  Japanese  court  ladies  in  the 
preparation  of  a  perfume;  and  it  has  always  ap- 
parently been  accorded  recognition  in  its  native 
land,  and  been  high  in  favor. 

As  a  natural  hedge  the  rugosa  rose  is  splendid, 
where  there  is  space'  to  allow  it  free  growth. 
The  individuals  sucker  freely,  however,  and 
cover  a  space  fully  four  feet  wide,  hence 
should  not  be  used  where  space  is  limited.  But 
no  shrubbery  border  ought  to  miss  its  excep- 
tional contribution;  and  it  can  as  a  matter  of 
fact  be  kept  in  check  by  pruning  back  very 
much  as  any  sheared  hedge  is  pruned.  Handled 
in  this  way  it  becomes  an  absolutely  impene- 
trable thicket,  owing  to  its  spines  and  its  habit 
of  suckering — that  is,  throwing  up  endless 
shoots  direct  from  the  roots,  as  the  lilac  does. 

The  wichuraiana  rose  came  to  us  in  1893  also 
from  Japan,  introduced  by  the  late  Jackson 
Dawson  of  the  Arnold  Arboretum;  and  it  is  the 
progenitor  of  a  great  number  of  the  loveliest 


226  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

climbing  roses  in  the  world — the  Wichuraiana 
group — produced  by  our  hybridizers  through 
crossing  it  with  Teas  and  Hybrid  Perpetuals. 
Of  it  authorities  say  that  it  does  well  in  all  sorts 
of  situations,  which  is  literally  true;  and  inas- 
much as  it  and  its  offspring  are  climbers,  there 
is  the  added  feature  of  its  requiring  space  ver- 
tically instead  of  horizontally,  to  recommend  it 
to  the  smallest  garden. 

Furthermore,  nothing  ever  ails  roses  of  wich- 
uraiana parentage — and  insects  never  seem  to 
care  to  devour  them.  Their  foliage  is  invari- 
ably glossy  and  even  without  the  flowers  the 
plants  are  highly  decorative — which  cannot  be 
said  of  the  hybrids  of  the  Multiflora  group, 
another  developed  about  the  same  time  from  the 
multiflora  rose,  introduced  also  from  Japan. 
The  well-known  crimson  rambler  is  an  example 
of  this  class,  remarkable  many  of  them  in  florif- 
erousness  but  nearly  all  marred  by  suscepti- 
bility to  mildew  and  the  depredations  of  in- 
sects. Among  climbing  roses  therefore  always 
look  for  wichuraiana  parentage  and  avoid  mul- 
tiflora parentage — unless  proof  of  foliage  quality 
throughout  the  season  in  one  of  the  latter  is 
available. 

The  Noisette  roses  are  a  much  older  class — 
three  generations   older  indeed — distinguished 


ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        227 

by  being  clustered  in  flower.  Their  origin  was 
about  1814  and  curiously  enough  American, 
though  it  was  Louis  Noisette  of  France  who  sent 
them  out  first  and  for  whom  they  are  named. 
They  started  with  a  hybrid  between  the  tender 
China  or  Bengal  rose  and  the  equally  tender 
musk  rose;  and  of  them  it  is  enough  to  say  that 
some  of  the  finest  yellow  roses  are  in  this  class 
— but  that  they  are  not  more  hardy  than  the 
Tea  rose. 

No  chapter  on  roses  is  complete  without 
reference  to  the  wild  roses  of  our  own  United 
States,  which  offer  material  for  shrubbery  plant- 
ing and  for  naturalizing  in  wild  situations,  quite 
unrivaled.  There  is  first  of  all  the  prairie  rose 
— rosa  setigera  of  the  botanists  and  nurserymen 
— which  grows  six  feet  high  and  has  long,  droop- 
ing canes  that  are  loaded  with  the  clustered 
single  pink  blossoms  for  two  or  three  weeks  at 
a  time,  since  they  do  not  open  at  once  but  suc- 
cessively. 

Then  there  are  the  six-foot  rosa  lucida  with 
solitary  bright  pink  flowers  and  warm  red- 
brown  stems  in  winter  that  are  most  decorative, 
with  bright  red  hips  or  pods  scattered  along 
them;  rosa  humilis  that  is  usually  only  half 
the  height  of  the  first  which  it  otherwise  closely 
resembles;    rosa  nitida  which  is  again  half  the 


228  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

height  of  the  preceding — in  other  words  scarcely 
more  than  a  ground  cover,  for  which  it  may  be 
used  with  exceptional  effect  on  rough  banks  and 
wherever  a  semi  wild  growth  will  be  suitable; 
and  rosa  Carolina,  which  grows  to  a  height  of 
eight  feet  and  has  pink  flowers  in  corymbs. 
There  are  of  course  others,  but  they  are  not 
sufficiently  important  to  be  mentioned. 

One  may  therefore  choose  almost  any  kind  of 
rose  garden,  sure  of  finding  material  just  among 
roses  with  which  to  plant  it  exclusively.  Or  he 
may  combine  the  different  types  into  a  grand 
ensemble  of  roses  which  shall  demonstrate  the 
flower's  infinite  capacity  for  adjustment  to  vary- 
ing situations  the  while  it  provides  a  garden  of 
extreme  individuality  and  delight.  Or  he  may 
shelter  a  doorstep  with  a  single  climbing  rose, 
or  plant  a  fence  with  these,  in  variety.  There  is 
indeed  practically  no  limit  to  the  possibilities 
with  this  lovely  and  justly  designated  queen  of 
all  flowers,  which  has  been  beloved  of  all  races 
of  man  and  cultivated  from  the  very  dawn  of 
civilization. 

It  has  enemies  in  the  form  of  disease  and  in- 
sects; but  these  are  not  difficult  to  control  and, 
once  the  routine  of  maintenance  in  a  rose  garden 
is  established,  it  becomes  instinctive  to  spray 
as  precaution — which  is  of  course  what  insures 


ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        229 

healthy  plants  and  superlative  blossoms.  For 
the  roses  of  a  general  character  however  (as  dis- 
tinct from  the  Hybrid  Perpetuals  and  Hybrid 
Teas)  spraying  is  rarely  required,  since  the  really 
good  varieties  of  both  climbers  and  shrubs  are 
rugged  enough  to  withstand  all  sorts  of  attacks. 
It  is  not  possible  to  go  into  all  the  details  of 
either  spraying  or  pruning  here,  however;  but 
a  list  of  authoritative  books  on  the  rose  will  be 
found  at  the  end  of  the  book,  which  will  pro- 
vide explicit  directions  for  the  least  as  well  as 
the  greatest  of  rose  garden  operations. 

I  must  say  this,  however,  as  to  pruning:  cut 
your  roses  as  freely  as  you  will — all  of  the  Hy- 
brid Teas  and  Teas  as  well  as  the  others,  though 
it  is  less  important  with  them — because  the  rose 
always  blooms  upon  new  wood;  in  other  words, 
its  flowers  are  borne  on  branches  that  have  risen 
during  the  current  summer.  Pruning  (of  any 
plant)  induces  the  formation  of  new  branches  to 
take  the  place  of  those  sacrificed,  therefore  free 
cutting — which  amounts  to  pruning — of  the 
rose  induces  constant  formation  all  through  the 
season  of  just  the  wood  necessary  to  insure 
more  blossoms.  And  in  cutting  the  flowers, 
cut  with  as  long  stems  as  possible  without 
sacrificing  undeveloped  flower  buds,  in  order 
to  induce  the  new  wood  to  form  low  down  on 


230  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN. 

the  bush  and  thus  avoid  making  it  over  heavy 
at  the  top. 

A  ROSE  DIRECTORY 

This  list  includes  the  choicest  in  each  class 
in  the  various  colors.  All  but  Rugosa  and  H.  P. 
roses  should  be  given  some  protection  through- 
out the  northern  zone  of  the  United  States, 
which  may  be  said  to  extend  to  the  latitude  of 
the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie;  below  this  to 
the  northern  boundary  of  Tennessee  the  Tea 
roses  need  protection,,  but  from  this  latitude 
on  south — except  in  the  cold  mountainous  re- 
gions— no  protection  is  necessary.  The  Rocky 
Mountain  region  generally,  north  or  south,  is 
not  suitable  to  roses  of  any  kind,  though  there 
may  be  spots  favoring  them  here  and  there. 


Hybrid  Perpetual 

Gen.  Jacqueminot 

Red 

Anne  de  Diesbach 

Red 

Magna  Charta 

Rose  carmine 

Mme.  Gabrielle  Luizet 

Pale  pink 

Margaret  Dickson 

White 

Frau  Karl  Druschki 

White  (lacks  fragrance) 

Yellow  Frau  K.  Druschki 

Yellow 

Hybrid  Tea 

Chateau  de  Clos  Vougeot 

Heavy  scarlet 

Edward  Mawley 

Crimson 

Gen.  MacArthur 

Scarlet 

Loa  Angeles 

Flame  pink 

La  France 

Silvery  pink 

ROSES  AND  THEIR  CULTURE        231 


Queen  of  Fragrance 

Pink 

Florence  Pemberton 

Blush  white 

Viscountesa  Folkestone 

Cream  white 

Bessie  Brown 

Ivory  white 

Mrs.  Aaron  Ward 

YeUow 

Duchess  of  Wellington 

Yellow 

Climbing 

Excelsa— Hybrid  Wichuraiana 

Scarlet  (use  instead  of  Crimson  Ram- 
bler always) 

Climbing  American  Beauty — H 

.  W. 

Deep  rose 

Bess  Lovett— H.  W. 

Bright  red 

Dr.  W.  Van  Fleet— H.  W. 

Pink 

Silver  Moon— H.  W. 

White 

Aviator  Bleriot— H.  W. 

Yellow 

Gardenia 

Yellow  to  white 

Shrubby  Roses 


Roseraie  de  I'Hay — Hybrid  Rugosa 

Belle  Poitevine — H.  R. 

Conrad  Ferdinand  Meyer — H.  R. 

New  Century— H.  R. 

Nova  Zembla— H.  R. 

Blanc  double  de  Coubert — H.  R. 


Dark  red;  very  fragrant 
Pink;  free  bloomer 
Silver  pink 

Flesh  pink,  double  and  large 
Pure  white;  abundant 
White,  semi-double,  large,  long  sea- 
son 


'There  is  not  in  the  wide  world  a  valley  so  sweet, 
As  that  vale  in  whose  bosom  the  bright  waters  meet.'* 
— The  Meeting  of  the  Waters — Moore. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

Water  Features  and  Water  Flowers 

NOTHING  that  we  may  have  in  a  garden  is 
as  temperamental  as  water:  nothing  will 
change  the  whole  mood  of  a  composition  so 
definitely  as  it  may  be  changed  by  the  manner 
in  which  this  element  is  handled.  It  introduces 
moreover,  however  it  may  be  handled,  a  lively 
interest  which  accompanies  nothing  else.  But 
it  must  be  keyed  to  its  surroundings  even  more 
thoughtfully  than  the  other  elements  of  the 
garden,  just  because  it  is  so  vivid  and  tempera- 
mental. Wherefore  let  us  examine  its  two  op- 
posing aspects  and  analyze  them. 

In  one  it  is  animated  and  lively  and  gay,  per- 
sonifying activity  of  the  highest  degree;  in  the 
other  it  is  subdued,  placid,  the  very  essence  of 
repose,  pensive  and  even  melancholy  under  cer- 
tain circumstances.  Obviously  here  is  a  wide 
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WATER  FLOWERS  233 

range  of  choice,  and  just  as  obviously  a  choice 
must  be  made.  For  except  under  very  unusual 
conditions  these  two  aspects  cannot  be  success- 
fully combined.  That  they  are  both  very  often 
seen  together  in  elaborate  gardens  is  no  argu- 
ment for  the  propriety  of  using  them  thus,  nor 
for  methods  that  ignore  all  nicer  subtleties  of 
harmony. 

Water  in  motion,  curiously  enough  when  we 
stop  to  think  of  it,  does  violence  to  its  own  pro- 
foundest  law;  for  water  is,  by  its  very  nature, 
static.  It  seeks  its  level — which  is  rest  Hence 
nothing  can  be  more  agitated,  more  ill  at  ease 
in  a  sense,  than  the  rushing,  tumbling  stream  or 
the  plunging  cataract;  just  as  nothing  is  more 
expressive  of  force  irresistible  than  the  spurting 
jet  or  playing  fountain,  though  the  latter  may 
be  as  a  matter  of  fact  an  expression  of  a  certain 
contentment  which  the  stream  is  denied,  inas- 
much as  it  merely  dances  at  its  level,  otherwise 
its  place  of  rest. 

Yet  neither  the  jet  nor  the  fountain  of  gentlest 
play  will  produce  the  serenity  which  is,  in  the 
last  analysis,  the  very  heart  and  soul  of  the  kind 
of  garden  desirable  to  live  in.  Only  the  pool 
will  do  this;  for  the  quiet  pool  is  above  all  at 
peace — satisfied — resting,  pensive,  setting  up  at 
the  first  glimpse  of  its  shining  surface  the  mood 


234  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

of  reverie.  Its  still  waters  engender  a  reflective 
quiet  of  spirit  that  will  pervade  the  whole 
garden,  brooding  over  it  to  its  eternal  serenity 
and  enchantment.  On  the  other  hand  however, 
always  be  on  guard  against  emphasis  laid  too 
exclusively  upon  this  quality  lest  the  calm  be- 
come moodiness,  taking  on  a  somber  character 
in  some  way.  Reflections  which  the  water 
catches  have  a  deal  to  do  with  this.  Be  sure 
therefore  that  it  is  sunlight  and  not  shadow 
which  lies  upon  it — in  other  words,  choose  a  lo- 
cation for  a  pool  always  in  the  open  and  never 
beneath  the  shade  of  trees.  An  overhanging 
branch  may  be  permitted,  for  its  reflection;  but 
never  more  than  one-third  of  a  water  surface 
should  be  in  shadow,  regardless  of  a  pool's  size 
and  of  whether  it  is  formal  or  naturalistic  in 
character. 

In  the  small  garden  it  is  necessary  to  choose 
between  water  as  the  garden's  dominant  feature; 
or  setting  apart  a  portion  of  what  may  already 
be  very  limited  area  for  a  tiny  water  garden ;  or 
being  frankly  playful  and  introducing  a  verita- 
ble toy  pool  secluded  where  it  can  be  a  little  sur- 
prise— surprise  being  one  of  the  garden's  most 
valuable  assets,  by  the  way.  Let  us  never  lose 
sight  of  this,  whatever  feature  is  being  con- 
sidered.    Not  that  it  is  ever  desirable  to  be 


WATER  FLOWERS  235 

melodramatic  nor  to  astonish  through  bizarre 
efforts,  but  wherever  some  charming  bit  may 
be  come  upon  unexpectedly  in  an  unforced, 
natural  manner  the  whole  garden  will  gain  im- 
measurably in  interest. 

This  necessity  for  water  to  dominate  or  else 
be  set  apart  and  hidden  lies  in  the  character  of 
the  element  itself,  and  is  unavoidable.  For  if  a 
pool  is  exposed  to  view  throughout  the  entire 
area  of  the  garden,  it  focuses  interest  no  matter 
what  other  features  are  in  evidence,  and  even 
though  it  is  not  large.  So  it  is  always  a  question 
for  the  individual  to  decide — whether  water  will 
be  an  adjunct  or  the  feature  of  his  garden;  pro- 
viding of  course  it  is  the  small  garden  of  the 
type  dealt  with  here  throughout.  Whichever 
choice  is  made  however,  interest  in  the  pool  it- 
self must  never  distract  from  the  necessities  of 
its  surroundings  nor  beguile  into  a  belief  that 
the  pool  alone  is  quite  enough.  A  rich  back- 
ground is  necessary,  this  being  the  general  back- 
ground of  the  garden  of  course,  where  the  pool 
is  allowed  dominance,  but  narrowing  to  the 
planting  and  features  which  seclude  the  water, 
where  it  is  set  apart. 

This  background  must  be  supplied  with  refer- 
ence to  its  importance  in  the  general  scheme 
both  from  without  and  within — and  also  in  the 


236  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

indirect  aspect  in  which  reflections  in  the  water 
will  present  it.  There  are  the  skyline,  the  color, 
and  the  marginal  line,  as  these  repeat  in  the 
water;  and  they  are  sometimes  quite  as  vivid 
in  their  inversion  as  in  their  actuality.  The  pool 
indeed  may  very  well  be  considered  as  exactly 
doubling  the  garden's  loveliest  effects,  since 
there  is  within  its  depths  a  persistent  de  capo 
presenting  every  theme  with  nuances  differently 
shaded.  Its  reflections  are  truly  therefore  as 
much  a  part  of  the  garden  as  the  plants  and 
flowers  which  provide  their  substance. 

As  with  all  the  other  elements  in  the  design 
of  the  small  garden,  the  pool  that  makes  no  ef- 
fort to  be  naturalistic  will  best  suit  its  environ- 
ment. Frankly  a  basin  to  hold  water  that  is 
artificially  provided,  it  still  has  opportunities  for 
grace  and  beauty  in  its  form;  that  this  form 
shall  frankly  express  its  true  character  rather 
than  endeavor  (in  vain,  inevitably!)  to  create 
an  impression  of  being  a  natural  product,  is 
the  only  thing  possible  unless  all  sincerity  is 
sacrificed. 

No  one  has  come  thus  far  along  the  garden 
way  with  me,  I  am  confident,  without  realizing 
that  the  ideal  which  it  is  my  contention  should 
ever  be  set  up  and  persistently  striven  for,  in 
garden  concept  and  garden  design,  is  straight- 


WATER  FLOWERS  237 

forward  sincerity.  Where  a  pool  truly  natural 
is  possible — and  by  truly  natural  I  mean  abso- 
lutely without  any  interference  by  man  except 
to  the  extent  of  building  a  dam  possibly,  to  hold 
back  the  waters  of  a  little  stream,  or  excavating 
a  bog  or  natural  drainage  basin  where  surface 
waters  collect,  until  such  basin  is  deepened  suffi- 
ciently to  hold  water  throughout  the  season — 
naturalistic  treatment  of  its  margins  and  of  its 
planting  will  follow  as  a  matter  of  course  under 
this  ideal.  But  where  a  pool  is  built,  even 
though  the  building  is  not  done  with  cement,  in 
form  and  marginal  finish  and  general  treatment 
let  it  be  honestly  i^nnaturalistic. 

This  does  not  preclude  the  use  of  grass  mar- 
gins any  more  than  it  need  involve  wide  and 
ugly  copings  of  concrete,  for  turf  may  be  car- 
ried right  to  the  water's  edge  of  a  square,  round 
or  rectangular  pool  quite  as  well  as  to  the  edge 
of  one  of  irregular  shape.  Moreover  it  need  not 
involve  a  set  and  formal  treatment  of  the  garden 
generally;  for  there  is  a  vast  difference  between 
frankly  admitting  our  human  part  in  a  garden, 
through  its  design  and  ordered  and  orderly 
beauty,  and  emphasizing  our  presence  by 
making  every  feature  aggressively  eloquent  of 
ourselves  and  our  dominion  over  inanimate 
materials. 


238  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

The  construction  of  a  garden  pool  may  or 
may  not  involve  a  considerable  outlay,  not 
merely  according  to  its  size  but  according  to  the 
method  employed  and  also  the  source  of  the 
water  supply.  If  this  has  to  be  piped  from  a 
main  it  is  one  thing,  if  it  comes  from  private 
supply  upon  the  place  it  is  another,  and  of 
course  if  it  is  available  from  a  spring  or  spring- 
fed  rivulet  or  stream,  it  is  still  another.  Most 
common  is  the  first  named;  and  the  manner  of 
piping  into  the  basin  as  well  as  of  constructing 
the  latter  is  therefore  more  generally  typical. 
The  bottom  of  the  finished  basin  need  not  be 
more  than  two  feet  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground  and  a  thickness  of  six  inches  is  sufficient 
for  this.  Hence  an  excavation  three  feet  in 
depth  is  enough,  since  it  allows  full  six  inches 
for  a  cinder-bed  upon  which  to  build  the  bottom 
of  the  pool.  It  is  not  supposed  always  to  be 
necessary  to  start  with  such  a  foundation;  but 
it  is  very  safe  to  do  so. 

Both  bottom  and  sides  of  a  concrete  basin 
should  be  reinforced  with  strong  wire  netting, 
wire  lathing  or  bars — the  latter  are  necessary 
only  for  large  tanks  where  the  walls  are  eight 
inches  in  thickness — placed  so  that  it  comes  in 
the  middle  of  the  concrete  when  this  is  poured 
in.    And  the  sides  of  small  pools  should  slope 


WATER  FLOWERS  239 

in  from  top  to  bottom,  outside  as  well  as  inside, 
as  a  precaution  against  heaving  by  frost,  this 
slope  giving  the  cross  section  of  the  finished 
basin  something  the  appearance  of  a  huge  un- 
covered vegetable  dish. 

Large  pools  must  have  thick  walls  and  be 
frost  resistant;  and  even  in  these  it  is  better  to 
slope  the  walls  outward  from  bottom  to  top. 
For  in  the  event  of  water  freezing  in  them  dur- 
ing an  extreme  winter,  the  expansion  is  given 
opportunity  by  the  greater  width  at  the  top  for 
upward  play,  and  this  insures  the  walls  holding 
without  cracking. 

The  water  should  flow  in  at  the  side  at  the  top 
and  be  taken  out  at  a  central  vent  into  which  a 
standpipe  is  sometimes  inserted  to  maintain  the 
overflow  level.  I  must  confess  that  I  dislike  this 
method  however  as  unsightly,  and  prefer  a  side 
overflow;  and  as  it  is  never  supposed  that  either 
intake  or  overflow  shall  be  rapid,  there  is  no 
reasonable  objection  to  it.  The  vent  at  the  cen- 
ter, where  the  floor  of  the  pool  may  be  slightly 
depressed,  is  of  course  to  be  retained  in  order  to 
make  complete  drainage  easy  when  necessary, 
with  a  close  fitting  plug  or  cap  closing  it  at  other 
times.  For  very  tiny  pools,  however,  surface 
filling  with  a  hose  will  suffice  and  the  water  may 
be  dipped  out  when  it  is  advisable  to  clean  the 


240  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

bottom.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  such 
cleaning  is  seldom  needed,  since  a  bottom  cover 
of  gravel  ought  always  to  be  spread  above  earth 
if  this  is  placed  directly  in  the  pool  for  the  pur- 
pose of  growing  plants  therein;  and  this  gravel 
should  remain  undisturbed  throughout  the  sea- 
son at  least. 

A  small  pool  may  be  made  by  digging  out  the 
earth  in  the  form  of  a  deep  saucer — oval,  rect- 
angular, or  round  as  desired — instead  of  making 
side  walls  that  are  definitely  vertical.  Such  an 
excavation  as  this  slopes  gradually  down  to  the 
requisite  depth  and  actually  becomes  a  big 
saucer  of  concrete,  when  finished;  for  the  four 
to  six  inch  layer  of  this  is  molded  directly  onto 
the  ground  and  rests  in  the  depression  quite  se- 
cure from  frost  action.  Make  the  wall  gradu- 
ally increasing  to  the  greater  thickness  as  it 
reaches  the  lowest  point;  and  make  its  descent 
as  steep  as  you  choose,  providing  you  avoid  an 
actually  flat  bottom.  For  all  concrete  pools 
the  proper  proportion  is  one  part  cement, 
two  parts  sand  and  three  parts  broken  stone 
or  gravel. 

Of  water  plants  there  are  a  great  number;  and 
many  kinds.  The  water-lily  is  of  course  the 
best  known  of  all,  for  it  grows  in  all  parts  of  the 
world  and  is  one  of  the  loveliest.     Always  re- 


WATER  FLOWERS  241 

member,  however,  that  water  as  a  feature  of  the 
garden  must  be  itself  in  evidence  and  not  ob- 
scured by  growth  upon  its  surface.  Which  is  by 
way  of  reminding  that  great  restraint  is  needed 
to  hold  enthusiasm  in  check  when  it  comes  to 
planting  a  pool  or  water  garden;  for  if  it  is 
large  and  roomy,  the  natural  feeling  is  that 
it  will  accommodate  a  considerable  number 
of  plants,  and  if  it  is  small  it  will  at  least 
afford  opportunity  for  raising  one's  own  water- 

lily! 

This  is  as  likely  as  not  what  it  will  not  do, 
however;  for  there  are  few  things  in  the  plant 
world  as  huge,  considering  their  root-hold,  as 
most  water  plants.  It  takes  very  little  space 
comparatively  to  afford  a  water-lily  support,  the 
allowance  per  plant  in  cubic  feet  ranging  from 
four  to  ten — the  latter  being  for  the  tender  kinds 
which  are  more  luxuriant  growers  than  the 
hardy  va^^ieties.  This,  being  interpreted,  means 
a  box  of  earth  from  two  feet  square  by  one  foot 
deep  to  three  by  three-and-a-half  by  one  foot. 
But  a  plant  growing  in  a  box  of  this  size  will 
cover  a  water  surface  ten  by  ten  feet;  hence  in 
a  pool  no  larger  than  this  there  is  actually  no 
room  for  even  a  single  ordinary  water-lily  if  the 
water  itself  is  not  to  disappear !  There  is  happily 
however  a  pygmy  variety  from  Japan  that  may 


242  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

be  grown  in  close  quarters,  if  the  gardener  simply 
cannot  live  without  one. 

Instead  of  water-lilies  however  there  are 
several  charming  aquatics  less  rampant  in 
growth  and  of  long  extended  bloom,  available 
for  modest  pools.  One  of  these  which  cannot 
fail  to  be  a  source  of  great  pleasure  is  the  water 
hyacinth,  the  weed  which  put  an  end  to  navi- 
gation on  a  southern  river  years  ago  but  which 
above  the  frost  line  can  never  be  a  menace,  even 
if  it  escape  from  cultivation,  since  it  is  tender 
and  killed  back  by  winter.  There  are  two  vari- 
eties of  this,  one  bearing  lavender-blue  flowers, 
the  other  blossoms  of  a  rosy-lilac.  The  former 
needs  to  be  planted  in  soil  under  four  to  eight 
inches  of  water,  but  the  lilac-flowered  variety 
(which  is  the  pest)  is  a  true  floating  plant  and 
needs  only  to  be  placed  on  the  water.  It  will 
take  root  of  itself  however,  if  the  water  is  not 
more  than  six  or  eight  inches  deep  and  there  is 
earth  at  the  bottom;  and  as  it  blossoms  during 
July  and  August  when  other  flowers  are  not 
abundant,  it  is  highly  desirable. 

It  may  be  grown  also  in  an  ordinary  tub  half 
filled  with  earth  and  filled  to  the  brim  with 
water;  and  if  no  other  attempt  at  water  gar- 
dening seems  desirable  or  possible,  here  is  an  in- 
teresting variant  of  it  that  may  entertain  if  one 


WATER  FLOWERS  243 

has  no  more  than  a  windowsill  as  a  garden  site; 
or  such  tub  may  be  sunk  into  the  ground  in  any 
sunny  spot  in  ever  so  large  a  garden.  The  rapid 
growth  of  the  plant  is  easily  overcome  by  the 
simple  expedient  of  taking  out  as  much  as  neces- 
sary as  often  as  necessary;  and  for  over- winter- 
ing, a  broad  bowlful  indoors  is  a  most  desirable 
mass  of  living  green  for  any  room. 

Another  suitable  plant  is  the  water  poppy, 
also  tender  and  needing  to  be  kept  in  a  tub  in- 
doors in  winter.  Its  preferred  submergence  is 
under  the  same  depth  of  water  as  the  water  hya- 
cinth— six  to  eight  inches — and  its  leaves  and 
flowers  also  float.  The  latter  are  yellow  and 
suggestive  of  the  poppy,  and  they  are  abundant 
and  continuous  all  summer.  And  a  third  charm- 
ing water  plant  is  the  water  snowflake  which 
has  smal?  white  flowers  with  petals  like  an  os- 
trich featht.".  This  requires  water  four  to  eight 
inches  deep,  and  must  likewise  be  kept  in  the 
house  in  winter. 

When  it  comes  to  a  consideration  wholly  of 
water  plants  as  garden  material,  separate  and 
distinct  from  the  pictorial  contribution  of  the 
element  in  which  they  grow,  the  use  of  tubs  sunk 
into  the  ground  has  much  in  its  favor,  especially 
for  the  small  garden.  They  are  easily  acquired, 
for  the  first  thing;    each  one  takes  care  of  one 


244  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

plant;  and  the  water-flower  garden  is  thus 
capable  of  expansion  or  contraction  on  the  unit 
system.  No  system  of  piping  is  needed  either 
to  carry  water  into  them  or  away  from  them, 
since  they  may  be  filled  to  overcome  natural 
evaporation  with  a  hose  running  a  gentle  stream, 
while  they  are  taken  up  bodily  and  emptied  as 
may  be  desirable.  In  such  receptacles  half  or 
two  thirds  full  of  the  proper  soil,  on  which  a  two- 
inch  layer  of  clean  white  sand  is  spread  to  pre- 
vent the  water  with  which  the  tub  is  then  filled 
from  becoming  turgid  and  muddy,  it  is  possible 
to  grow  many  of  the  loveliest  water-lilies,  which 
are  botanically  distinguished  by  the  name 
nymphsea,  and  all  of  the  lotus,  which  are  nel- 
umbium.  These  last  do  not  float  their  flowers 
nor  their  leaves  upon  the  surface  of  the  water, 
but  lift  them  clear  of  it  from  three  to  five  feet 
and  send  their  great  flowers  up  higher  yet  on 
very  strong  stems. 

Because  of  this  habit  of  growth,  nelumbiums 
are  distinctly  not  to  be  used,  even  singly,  where 
the  water  effect  is  intended;  for  nothing  will 
keep  them  within  bounds.  They  have  the  true 
tropical  capacity  for  quick  and  assertive  growth, 
and  though  they  will  not  endure  the  northern 
winter  out  of  doors — the  tubers  are  dug  up  and 
taken  inside  in  the  fall — they  advance  so  boldly 


WATER  FLOWERS  245 

as  soon  as  they  begin  growing  after  planting 
out,  in  May,  that  nothing  else  stands  a  show  in 
competition. 

Interesting  these  plants  are  without  doubt, 
although  the  true  lotus  of  Egypt — the  sacred 
lily  of  the  Nile — was  really  a  blue-flowered 
nymphsea — Nymphoea  coerulea — which  seems 
unquestionably  to  have  been  the  plant  Isis  is 
supposed  to  have  pointed  out  to  the  people  as 
fit  for  food.  Its  petals  have  been  found  in 
mummy  cases  while  its  leaves  and  flowers  are 
shown  repeatedly  in  ornament.  Even  the  in- 
terest in  nelumbiums  from  the  legendary  point 
of  view  abates  therefore,  in  the  light  of  under- 
standing; and  there  seems  to  be  not  a  great 
deal  to  '•ecommend  them  to  the  garden  of  to- 
day, since  '^hey  are  such  strident  specimens. 

In  addition  to  plants  of  an  aquatic  character, 
all  pools  should  have  subaquatics  in  them  to 
aerate  the  water.  The  best  of  these  for  small 
gardens  are  Washington  grass — Cabomba  viridi- 
folia — or  eel  grass — Vallisneria  spiralis.  One 
plant  of  either  to  every  twelve  to  fifteen  square 
feet  of  surface  on  a  pool  two  feet  deep  will 
be  sufficient.  And  of  course  with  these  as 
with  all  other  aquatic  growth,  thinning  out 
must  be  constantly  resorted  to  if  the  plants 
grow  unduly. 


246  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

Finally,  there  should  be  fish — goldfish  prefer- 
ably, since  they  are  like  nothing  less  than  darts 
of  flame  beneath  the  waters  of  a  pool — but  any 
small  fish  will  serve  the  purpose  of  keeping  down 
the  mosquito  larvae,  providing  there  are  no 
shaded  corners  and  obscure  little  spots  into 
which  the  fish  cannot  or  will  not  penetrate. 
Naturally  in  the  tubs  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
where  plants  are  grown  that  hide  the  water  al- 
together, a  condition  of  shade  prevails  through- 
out; and  in  these  it  is  extremely  doubtful  that 
fish  will  thrive.  Not  that  they  are  averse  to 
shade,  but  they  must  have  a  modicum  of  light 
and  assuredly  plenty  of  air.  Therefore,  even 
when  growing  plants  wholly  for  themselves,  it  is 
well  to  keep  a  little  of  the  water's  surface  ex- 
posed either  by  crowding  the  vegetation  back 
or  cutting  it  away  as  it  encroaches  too  much. 
The  allotment  of  fish  is  a  pair  per  tub  or  pool  up 
to  twenty  feet  square,  with  a  pair  added  for  each 
additional  twenty-foot  square  unit.  This  is  not 
to  say  however  that  more  than  this  number  may 
not  be  introduced;  but  twenty -five  are  enough 
to  stock  a  pond  seventy-five  by  one  hundred 
feet  in  size. 

All  water-lilies  require  still  water;  therefore 
when  it  is  necessary  to  replenish  a  pool  wherein 
they  are  growing,  be  very  careful  that  no  com- 


WATER  FLOWERS  247 

motion  is  made.  A  small  stream  allowed  only 
to  trickle  in  at  the  edge,  is  the  proper  way  to 
bring  the  water  level  up  when  this  has  been  low- 
ered through  evaporation.  And  of  course  this 
makes  it  apparent  that  even  the  most  gently 
playing  fountain  is  not  to  be  considered  as  a 
proper  place  for  them,  though  I  have  seen  them 
thrive  where  water  merely  overflowed  not  much 
more  than  a  drop  at  a  time  from  a  brimming 
tazza  in  the  middle  of  a  pool.  I  would  not  ad- 
vise even  this  much  activity  however,  where  ab- 
solute certainty  is  desired.  Absolutely  still, 
warm  water  under  full  sunlight  is  invariably  the 
best. 

The  soil  in  which  water-lilies  are  to  be  planted 
may  be  anj/  good  garden  earth  enriched  with 
one  fifth  its  be  Ik  of  well-decomposed  manure, 
preferably  from  cow  stables;  or  with  one  quart 
of  bonemeal  to  each  bushel  of  soil.  Planting  is 
accomplished  by  simply  pushing  the  root,  which 
is  a  rhizome,  or  elongated  banana-like  form,  into 
the  soft  mud-earth  in  a  horizontal  position  and 
deep  enough  just  to  cover  the  crown  or  growing 
tip.  To  hold  it  in  place  until  growth  has  started 
a  stone  may  be  laid  upon  it;  this  should  be 
clear  of  the  growing  tip  however.  Of  course 
in  practically  every  instance  of  planting  in  a 
small  pool  or  a  pool  of  concrete,  the  roots  are 


248  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

set  into  boxes  of  earth  and  these  are  then  sunk 
into  the  pool;  but  in  natural  pools  or  pools 
of  a  naturalistic  character,  without  cement 
bottom,  the  rhizomes  may  be  planted  directly 
in  the  earth. 

If  they  require  wintering  indoors  take  them 
up  as  soon  as  frost  has  touched  the  leaves  and 
replant  in  tubs  indoors  until  their  leaves  have 
ripened  off.  Then  the  roots  may  be  dried  out 
and  stored  in  moist  sand  where  they  can  be 
kept  at  a  temperature  of  about  60  Fahrenheit. 
Hardy  varieties  however  need  no  care  unless 
the  depth  of  the  tank  is  not  great  enough  to 
insure  its  not  freezing  at  the  bottom  if  the  water 
is  left  in.  If  you  cannot  be  sure  of  this,  it  should 
be  drained  and  the  basin  filled  with  leaves  with 
boards  over  them  to  hold  them  in  place;  or,  if 
the  plants  are  set  in  boxes,  the  boxes  may  be 
drained  and  brought  indoors  into  a  cool  cel- 
lar or  covered  up  anywhere  out  in  the  garden 
securely  enough  to  keep  frost  out. 

Early  in  this  chapter  I  spoke  of  excavating 
low  ground  to  make  a  pool  where  before  only  a 
bog  or  swampy  place  may  have  been.  This  is 
not  an  opportunity  often  found  within  the 
limits  of  the  small  garden  or  the  village  or  town 
community.  That  it  may  sometimes  present  it- 
self however  is  suflficient  reason  for  a  word  more 


WATER  FLOWERS  249 

about  it.  Regardless  of  the  conventional,  and 
of  the  advice  of  well  meaning  but  unimaginative 
people  who  are  unable  to  see  such  a  condition  as 
anything  but  a  low,  unhealthy,  miserable  place, 
consider  well  the  possibility  of  overcoming  all 
the  drawbacks  of  it  by  simply  adopting  its  sug- 
gestion and  going  it  several  better. 

The  task  of  draining  and  filling  a  bog  is  one 
of  the  most  thankless  as  well  as  most  uncertain 
that  can  be  undertaken;  for  there  are  as  likely 
as  not  springs  at  the  bottom — literally — of  the 
whole  thing.  If  you  proceed  in  the  other  direc- 
tion however,  it  is  practically  impossible  to  go 
wrong;  for  the  deepening  of  the  lowest  portion 
will  inevitably  drain  into  this  the  moisture  from 
the  higher  ground  around,  and  whether  the 
water  is  from  springs  or  from  the  surface  only, 
it  will  be  provided  with  a  limited  basin  into 
which  it  will  settle  and  remain.  And  this  in 
turn  will  provide  your  garden  with  a  most  un- 
usual and  altogether  delightful  feature,  with  the 
accompanying  opportunity  of  growing  plants 
and  flowers  denied  to  the  commonplace  site  lack- 
ing this  element.  Even  if  the  water  disappears 
during  midsummer,  you  may  still  have  most  of 
the  things  here  listed;  for  all  save  the  aquatics 
themselves  will  accommodate  to  temporary  lack 
of  water.    For  of  course  wheal  this  lack  occurs 


250  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

on  the  surface  there  is  still  moisture  below  and 
in  the  ground,  since  all  drainage  is  into  such  a 
basin. 

AVAILABLE  MATERIAL 

These  are  plants  suitable  for  association  with 
water  in  the  garden,  or  use  in  low,  moist  places. 
The  selection  comprises  those  in  each  class  that 
have  a  distinct  need  of  very  moist  conditions, 
and  if  they  are  used  in  naturally  wet  ground 
they  will  need  no  especial  attention.  If  used 
near  artificial  pools,  where  the  ground  is  not 
naturally  moist,  make  some  arrangement  by 
which  overflow  will  provide  the  proper  condi- 
tions for  them. 


TERRESTRIAL  PLANTS 

Shrubs 

Groundsel  tree 

Baccharis  halimifolia 

3  to  10  feet 

Sweet  pepper  buah 

Clethra  alnifolia 

3  "    4    " 

Marsh  Mallow 

Hibiscus  Moscheutoa 

8  ••    5    " 

Elder 

Sambucus  racemosa 

10  "  12    " 

Button-bush 

CephcUanthtis  occidentalis 

Bamboos  and  Grasses 

3  ••  12    •.! 

Dwarf  bamboo 

Bambusa  viminalis 

2  feet 

Bamboo 

Bambusa  Metake 

6  to  10  feet 

" 

Bambusa  Simoni 

15  "  20    " 

Plume  grass 

Erianthus  revenncB 

10  *'  12    " 

Eulalia 

Eulalia  gracillima  univittata 

5  "     6    " 

Fountain  grass 

Pennisetum  Japonicum 

4  "     5    " 

WATER  FLOWERS 


251 


Swamp  milkweed 

Goat's-beard 
Tree  Celandine 
American  senna 
Shell  flower 
Thorough-wort 
Bowman's  root 
Iris 

Water  flag 
Japanese  iris 
Cardinal  flower 
Meadow  rue 
Mauve  meadow  rue 


Herbaceous  Perennials 

AsclcTpiaa  incarnata  rotea  3  feet 

Astilbe  AreTidsi  2^  to  3  feet 

Bocconia  cordata  7  to  8  feet 

Cassia  marilandica  3  *'  4    " 

Chelone  glabra  2  feet 

Eupatorium  caehstinum  2  " 

Gillenia  trifoliata  3    " 

Iris  ochroleuca  gigantea  4    " 

Iris  pseudacorus  4    " 

Iris  Kaempferi,  all  varieties  3  to  4  feet 

Lobelia  cardinalis  3  feet 

Thalictrum  adiantifolium  IJ^  to  2  feet 

Thalictrum  dipterocarpum  4  feet 


For  Ground  Cover  or  Margin 


Meadow  beauty 
English  cowslip 
Moneywort 


Rhexia  virginica 
Primula  veris 
Lysimachia  numtnularia 


9  inches 


Trailing 


AQUATICS   AND   SUBAQUATICS 


Fob  Tubs  and  Small  Pools 


Japanese  water-lily 

Miniature  water-lily 
Blue  lotus  (tender) 
Water  poppy 
Water  hyacinth 
Blue  water  hyacinth 
Water  snowflake 
Villarsia 

Eel  grass  or  wild  celery 
Washington  grass 


Nymphma  pygmcea 
NymphcBa  pygmoBa  helvola 
Nymphcsa  odorata  minor 
Nymphcea  coerulea 
Limnocharis  Humboldti 
Eichornia  crassipes  major 

"         azurea 
Limnanthemum  indicum 
Limnanthemum  Nymphaeoides 
Vallisneria  spiralis 
Cabomba  viridifolia 


White 

Yellow 

White 

Blue 

YeUow 

Lilac-rose 

Lavender-blue 

White 

Yellow 

(Subaquatio) 


For  Naturalizing  in  Deep  Water 


Common  water-lily 
Large-flowered  water-lily 
Cape  Cod  pink  water-lily 


Nymphcea  odorata  White 

Nymphcsa  odorata  gigantea  White 

Nymphcea  odorata  rosea  Pink 


252  COME  INTO  THE  GAKDEN 

Tender  Day-blooming 

(All  blue  varieties  are  in  this  section) 

Cape  blue  water-lily  Nymphaea  Capenais  Sky-blue 

Nymphcea  Daubenyana  Light  blue 

Nymphoea  Zanzibar ientit  Blue-purple 

Tender  Night-blooming 
{Gorgeous  and  profuse-blooming,  these  remain  open  on  dark  days) 

Nymphoea  Dentata  White 

Nymphcea  Deaniana  Pink 

Nymphcea  Devonientia  Red 

Nymphcea  JubiU*  White-pink 


**How  could  such  sweet  and  wholesome  hours 
Be  reckoned,  but  with  herbs  and  flowers!" 

— The  Garden— Anbbbw  Marvell. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

Rock  Gardens  and  Thetr  Plants 

THERE  are  four  distinct  kinds  of  rock  garden; 
or  perhaps  it  is  better  to  say  that  there  are 
four  ways  in  which  rocks  and  stones  are  used 
to  provide  special  conditions  wherein  only 
special  plants  will  grow,  the  rocks  being  utilized 
equally  with  the  vegetation  to  produce  an  effect. 
The  first  alone  is  entitled  to  be  called  a  rock 
garden,  the  second  is  a  wall  garden,  the  third  a 
stone  or  flagged  garden  and  the  fourth,  which  is 
not  a  garden  at  all,  is  the  rockery.  Of  this  last 
I  will  say  in  passing  that  garden  effect  is  really 
unthought  of  in  connection  with  it,  since  it  is 
essentially  a  botanist's  or  plant  collector's  speci- 
men cabinet,  in  which  his  treasures  are  pre- 
served (and  maintained  alive)  even  as  the  geolo- 
gist's are  stored  in  a  wooden  cabinet  in  his 
library  or  laboratory. 

The  rock  garden  is  perhaps  the  most  im- 
253 


254  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

portant — at  least  it  is  less  often  possible,  since 
natural  disposition  of  a  terrain  is  essential  to  it, 
therefore  it  is  rare;  and  rarity  gives  importance. 
Of  it  there  is  first  of  all  this  to  be  said:  it  is 
above  all  the  result  of  making  the  best  of  things, 
of  accepting  and  adapting  to  difficulties  instead 
of  seeking  to  overcome  them.  Or  this  is  what  it 
seems  to  be !  Actually  a  true  rock  garden  results 
from  seizing  a  wonderful  opportunity  and  using 
all  the  cunning  of  which  man  is  capable  not  to 
impair  in  the  slightest  degree  its  advantages, 
while  at  the  same  time  further  ones  are  created 
so  artfully  that  they  seem  also  to  have  happened 
quite  by  the  accidents  of  nature. 

No  people  in  the  world  perhaps  equal  the 
Japanese  in  work  of  this  sort  (but  let  me  say 
right  here,  and  emphatically,  that  in  general  the 
so-called  Japanese  gardens  seen  in  this  country 
are  not  examples  of  this  work,  nor  an  exposition 
of  the  consummate  garden  art  of  Japan!),  which 
requires  the  closest  observation  of  natural  forms 
and  of  minutest  detail,  coupled  with  the  pa- 
tience and  the  skill  in  handling  both  rocks  and 
plants  that  reproduces  these  forms  absolutely. 
Unless  we  are  willing  to  carry  the  work  of  imi- 
tation to  the  same  high  degree  of  perfection 
reached  by  the  Japanese  gardener,  who  gathers 
the  mosses  from  around  a  bowlder  when  he  is 


ROCK  GARDENS  255 

about  to  appropriate  the  bowlder  itself,  and 
keeps  these  in  such  a  way  that  he  puts  them 
back  down  around  and  against  and  on  it  in 
just  the  same  relation  they  originally  held,  with 
every  patch  fitted  accurately  to  its  proper  neigh- 
bor, we  are  bound  to  fall  short  of  the  exact  and 
wonderful  naturalism  that  is  alone  excuse  for 
attempting  to  be  natural. 

It  follows  moreover,  where  this  sort  of  thing 
exists,  or  is  brought  into  existence  by  artistry 
so  finished,  that  it  must  be  dissociated  from 
every  hint  of  a  contrary  element.  Therefore  it 
is  not  only  seclusion  from  the  vision  of  the  out- 
side world  that  a  rock  garden  demands,  but  that 
deeper  seclusion  that  belongs  to  the  heart  of  na- 
ture, as  it  were;  the  seclusion  of  the  mountain 
top  or  of  the  deep,  wild  glen — a  something  more 
than  outward  hiding,  a  real  inward  solitude. 
Hence  for  the  perfecting  of  a  rock  garden  it  must 
not  only  be  undreamed  of  from  without  but  it 
must  leave  the  outside  world  undreamed  of, 
from  within. 

Within  the  limitations  of  a  small  place,  this 
is  a  thing  seldom  possible  to  achieve.  Where- 
fore it  appears  that  the  rock  garden  is  not,  usu- 
ally, within  the  possibilities  of  any  but  the  larger 
places — unless  an  inhospitable  and  unfavorable 
scrap  of  land  is  acquired,  which  may  become  a 


256  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

rock  garden  throughout  with  a  suitable  dwelling 
in  the  midst,  the  whole  secluded  from  the  com- 
moner elements  of  the  world  without.  Now 
and  then  a  small  garden  may  have  a  corner  or 
an  end  descending  abruptly  enough  to  allow  of 
its  being  planted  out  with  shrubs  and  trees  and 
made  the  site  of  a  small  rock  garden;  and  of 
course  there  are  here  and  there  individual  op- 
portunities which  cannot  be  foreseen  or  guessed 
for  realization  of  all  the  ideals  outlined. 

It  would  be  idle  to  go  on,  therefore,  in  an  at- 
tempt to  consider  all  kinds  of  possibilities;  so 
of  the  best  site  it  is  enough  to  add  to  the  out- 
line already  given  the  advice  never  to  attempt 
to  construct  a  rock  garden  where  natural  con- 
ditions do  not  suggest  this  kind  of  garden  above 
all  others — do  not  in  fact  seem  to  say  clearly 
that  no  other  kind  is  possible.  Where  the  earth's 
great  rock  skeleton  does  not  approach  suffi- 
ciently near  the  surface  to  be  recognized,  it  is 
distinctly  an  artificial  enterprise  that  drags  in 
some  of  its  parts  from  elsewhere  and  leaves 
them  wholly  or  partly  exposed.  It  is  indeed 
so  artificial  that  it  offends  the  finer  sense 
of  harmony  and  produces,  almost  invariably, 
exactly  the  effect  of  their  having  been  dragged 
in! 

So  much  for  where  rock  gardens  do  and  do 


^,m^,  ^' 


W-iX' 


mm: 


By  its  very  content  setting  forth  the  extremes  of  rough  negli- 
gence and  ruggedness  the  rock  garden  is  farthest  removed 
of  all  garden  forms  from  any  affinity  with  man's  affairs — 
which  is  the  key  to  its  proper  place  and  interpretation 


ROCK  GARDENS  257 

not  belong.  Now  a  word  as  to  handling  the 
ready-made  site — the  rocky  ledge,  or  the  bowl- 
der strewn  hillside,  or  the  glen  with  a  stream  at 
its  bottom  perhaps.  In  general,  let  everything 
alone;  where  this  cannot  be  done — as  in  the 
pathway  by  which  one  may  thread  between  and 
over  the  rocks — make  it  seem  to  be  a  coinci- 
dence that  rocks  have  arranged  themselves  con- 
veniently. Do  not  build  a  path  of  definite  and 
uniform  width,  but  rather  provide  a  casual  way 
by  which  advance  may  be  made  safely  and  con- 
veniently; where  steps  are  necessary,  let  them 
be  separated  at  some  distance  if  possible  rather 
than  brought  together  in  a  single  flight.  Repro- 
duce the  twistings  and  indirect  amblings  of  the 
negligent  walker,  who  invariably  sets  his  feet 
along  the  easiest  way  whether  he  is  going  uphill 
or  down;  turn  abruptly  around  the  face  of  a 
bowlder  or  at  the  blank  wall  of  a  high  rock 
against  which  the  path  seems,  as  approach  is 
made  towards  it,  to  end.  Do  all  of  the  things 
as  a  part  of  the  rock  garden  which  you  would 
naturally  do  on  a  mountain  ramble,  in  other 
words;  for  it  is  to  provide  such  ramble,  with  all 
its  unexpected  twists  and  turns  and  delightful 
surprises,  that  the  rock  garden  exists — partly. 
By  which  it  will  be  seen  that  this  is  one  of  the 
most  elusive  and  difficult  forms  of  garden  mak- 


258  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

ing.  Do  not  let  this  deter  from  it,  however, 
where  natural  opportunity  is  yours ;  and  do  not 
let  the  broad  garden  ideal  which  is  here  pre- 
sented minimize  the  opportunity  that  just  a 
single  group  of  rocks,  big  and  little  perhaps,  may 
hold  for  an  actual  rock  garden  in  miniature. 
Where  such  a  group  rests,  naturally  deposited 
or  naturally  uncovered  by  the  action  of  the  ele- 
ments, there  is  the  suggestion  for  something 
special  and  delightful  of  which  the  gardener 
should  be  bold  enough  to  take  advantage.  For 
it  is  not  size  that  makes  a  rock  garden  any  more 
than  any  other  type;  and  though  I  have  said 
that  few  small  places  boast  the  natural  charac- 
teristics that  inspire  this  treatment,  I  do  not 
mean  that  the  smallest  presentation  of  the  motif 
shall  be  disregarded,  wherever  it  may  offer. 

The  planting  of  a  rock  garden  is,  to  a  certain 
extent,  always  experimental.  The  plants  that 
haunt  such  spots  are  by  nature  elusive,  many  of 
them;  and  it  does  not  diminish  this  quality 
to  "raise  them  in  captivity.  I  do  not  mean  by 
this  that  they  lack  hardiness  or  strong  consti- 
tutions; they  possess  both  to  an  unusual  de- 
gree in  most  cases.  But  they  are  all  that  the 
word  elusive  implies — temperamental,  captious 
perhaps;  who  shall  say.^^  To  have  read  Maeter- 
linck's careful  Intelligence  of  the  Flowers  sug- 


ROCK  GARDENS  259 

gests  these  things,  and  more.  And  certainly  it  is 
well  established  of  alpine  plants  generally  that  in 
some  places  they  will  grow  exuberantly  while  in 
other  places,  seemingly  no  different  in  the  least 
detail,  they  will  not.  One  must  plant  and  try 
— and  if  at  first  you  don't  succeed  try  again! 

Rock  gardening  is  therefore  somewhat  ex- 
citing; and  that  it  does  take  fairly  a  gambling 
hold  upon  its  devotees  must  be  admitted. 
Whatever  the  final  intention  may  be,  it  is  best 
to  begin  with  the  easily  grown  rock  plants — 
distinctly  not  of  the  class  known  as  alpines  but 
just  common,  good-natured,  easy-going  and 
obliging  little  creatures,  usually  anxious  to 
please  and  eager  to  live.  True  alpines  are,  as 
their  name  implies,  plants  of  the  mountains; 
some  indeed  are  of  the  mountain-tops,  away 
above  timber  line.  Their  culture  is  one  of  the 
highly  specialized  branches  of  garden  interest 
that  enthusiasts  delight  in;  but  this  is  not  the 
sort  of  interest  that  promotes  the  finest  garden, 
in  the  general  sense — for  one  may  be  ever  so 
profoundly  interested  in  plants  and  yet  have  no 
garden  worthy  of  the  name,  since  the  concep- 
tion of  a  garden  that  the  artist-gardener  cher- 
ishes is  always  the  answer  to  every  requirement 
rather  than  to  any  one  or  two. 

The  wall  garden  wherein  the  stone  ledges  of 


260  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

a  wall — that  is  preferably  built  against  the  face 
of  an  earth  bank  to  retain  this — are  planted  with 
such  plants  as  delight  to  grow  under  the  condi- 
tions thus  provided,  offers  possibilities  that  are 
very  welcome  where  space  is  at  a  premium. 
Such  a  wall  becomes  indeed  a  garden  on  end — 
in  the  vertical  plane — where  a  garden  on  the 
horizontal  plane  may  be  altogether  out  of  the 
question.  And  as  with  all  kinds  of  rock  or  stone 
work,  plants  of  unusual  charm  because  of  their 
unfamillarity  and  uncommon  use,  furnish  the 
planting  material. 

In  the  construction  of  such  a  wall  there  is  one 
thing  to  be  kept  constantly  in  mind:  there 
must  be  what  gardeners  call  clear  root  run  from 
the  earth  pockets  in  the  wall  into  the  earth 
against  which  it  is  laid.  Such  root  runs  need  not 
be  straight  of  course,  but  they  must  be  present 
throughout  all  portions  of  the  wall  and  between 
each  stone,  practically.  All  plants  will  not  send 
their  roots  back  into  the  main  body  of  earth,  to 
be  sure;  but  a  great  many — and  some  of  these 
small,  at  that — will  do  so.  It  is  not  unusual  in- 
deed for  them  to  reach  eighteen  or  twenty  inches 
with  the  thread-like  filaments  that  they  put  forth 
in  the  search  for  creation's  everlasting  neces- 
sity— food.  Furthermore  this  contact  between 
the  earth  pockets  and  the  mass  of  earth  behind 


ROCK  GARDENS  261 

the  wall  maintains  the  moisture  in  the  former 
more  evenly,  as  it  makes  them  really  extensions 
of  it  rather  than  detached  portions.  Very  often 
no  earth  whatsoever  will  show  in  the  cranny 
where  a  plant  sets  up  its  abode,  the  root  hold 
being  wholly  back  of  the  stones. 

The  stone  or  flagged  garden  is  first  cousin  to 
the  wall  garden,  differing  in  being  horizontal  for 
one  thing,  and  in  having  well-opened  interstices 
between  its  stones  as  these  rest  on  the  earth,  in 
which  low,  spreading,  trailing  plants  fijid  place. 
As  these  overrun  the  stones  here  and  there  and 
fill  the  earth  spaces  with  their  tufty  greens  and 
various  interesting  forms,  an  effect  altogether 
simple  and  quaint  and  lovely  results;  and  for 
intimate  and  close  relation  with  a  dwelling  such 
a  garden,  entered  directly  from  a  room  perhaps 
and  inclosed  with  a  low  wall,  is  one  of  the  out- 
of-the-ordinary  things  woj-th  having.  Quite  as 
effective  in  another  way  is  it  as  a  remote  feature 
hidden  away  from  the  house  and  from  every- 
thing else,  to  be  come  upon  unexpectedly  and 
loitered  in — under  the  shade  of  over-hanging 
trees  perhaps,  or  of  vines  held  aloft  by  some 
simple  form  of  arbor. 

To  come  again  to  the  rockery,  too  often  mis- 
taken especially  in  the  generation  going  by,  for 
an  ornament — as  well  as  mistakenly  called  a 


262  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

rock  garden — let  us  consider  it  first  as  to  what 
it  is,  and  then  as  to  where  it  should  be  put.  I 
have  already  said  something  about  its  real  pur- 
p>ose  and  meaning — enough  perhaps;  but  lest 
I  seem  to  have  condemned  it  out  and  out  I  wish 
to  add  that,  where  there  is  a  collector  or  a 
botanist  to  inspire  its  presence  or  actually  to 
need  it,  it  is  as  legitimate  a  feature  of  a  garden 
as  anything  else.  The  great  trouble  has  been 
that  its  innate  ugliness  has  never  deterred  from 
giving  it  a  prominent  place — all  too  often  the 
center  of  an  otherwise  pleasant  lawn. 

That  a  stone  pile  is  ugly,  when  it  is  artificially 
piled  upon  level  ground  where  no  hint  of  stones 
exists  and  when  it  takes  the  form  of  an  absurd 
pyramid,  there  is  no  denying.  I  doubt  indeed  if 
it  could  take  any  other  form  and  be  anything 
else — but  that  is  beside  the  question.  Our  con- 
cern is  with  finding  a  way  to  deal  with  it  that 
will  permit  having  it  in  a  garden  if  it  is  desired, 
without  detracting  from  the  beauty  of  the  whole 
and  without  renouncing  even  to  a  slight  degree 
our  cherished  principles  and  concepts.  There  is 
of  course  one  way  to  do  all  of  this,  and  only  one; 
that  is  to  set  apart  a  place  for  it,  and  even  to 
emphasize  this  setting  apart,  at  the  same  time 
seeing  to  it  that  not  until  entrance  is  made  into 
the  space  is  its  feature  suspected.    It  must  not 


ROCK  GARDENS  263 

be  seen  from  any  point  outside;  but  the  inclo- 
sure  may  be  made  in  a  fashion  that  will  pique 
curiosity  and  interest  so  greatly  that  the  im- 
pulse to  see  what  it  contains  is  irresistible. 

Thus  instead  of  minimizing  a  feature  ordi- 
narily ugly,  and  accepting  its  ugliness  shame- 
facedly, as  it  were,  its  merit  apart  from  outward 
appearance  is  asserted  and  its  perfectly  legiti- 
mate claims  to  recognition  are  pressed.  And 
the  garden  acquires  something  interesting  and 
amusing  and  instructive,  instead  of  losing  in 
quality  and  beauty. 

Assuming  that  the  form  of  rockery  to  be  built 
is  the  common  low  pyramid,  surround  it  at  a 
sufficient  distance  from  its  base  to  provide  gen- 
erous walk  space,  with  a  hedge  that  shall  be- 
come a  high  wall  of  green,  through  which  a  door- 
way shall  give  entrance  from  without.  By  door- 
way I  mean  an  arched  opening  through  it,  in- 
stead of  merely  a  break  in  the  planting  as  com- 
monly allows  passage  to  a  walk — an  opening 
over  which  the  hedge  is  carried  just  as  a  high 
wall  is  carried  straight  along,  regardless  of  en- 
trance through  it.  Outside  of  this  hedge  masses 
of  shrubbery  may  quite  disguise  the  round 
temple  form,  if  so  desired;  or  the  entire  form 
may  be  revealed  as  an  axial  feature  at  the  end 
of  a  long  path,  perhaps.    It  is  capable  of  several 


264  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

interpretations  as  far  as  these  details  are  con- 
cerned; and  thus  interpreted  there  is  nothing 
faintly  akin  to  the  horror  of  the  old  rockery 
anywhere  discoverable. 

It  is  not  invariably  necessary  to  resort  to  the 
pyramid  of  stones,  however,  for  these  separate 
rock  pockets  which  provide  just  the  special 
conditions  that  plants  from  the  opposite  ends 
of  the  earth  require.  Sunken  rockeries  are  some- 
times built,  with  steps  leading  down  into  them 
and  planting  at  the  top  of  the  banks  that  hides 
them  completely;  a  circular  form  may  be  used 
also,  either  with  or  without  a  mound  at  the  cen- 
ter, around  which  the  walk  passes.  Such  a  one 
sometimes  is  made  wholly  on  the  surface  of  the 
ground,  and  sometimes  is  wholly  lowered  into 
the  ground;  in  either  case  a  small  goldfish  basin 
or  bird  pool  at  the  center  will  increase  the  in- 
terest, especially  to  the  average  visitor  who  is 
not  a  botanist  or  collector.  There  is  in  fact  no 
rule  against  making  even  the  simplest  rockery, 
built  for  the  sole  purpose  of  growing  special 
plants,  as  attractive  as  ingenuity  and  imagina- 
tion permit;  but  even  when  it  is  thus  handled, 
remember  that  it  is  still  a  showcase,  and  as  such, 
entitled  to  the  special  distinction  (if  it  seems 
more  considerate  to  put  it  this  way)  of  a  place 
by  itself.     It  is  a  wholly  unnatural  feature; 


ROCK  GARDENS  265 

never  attempt  to  naturalize  it,  and  never  at- 
tempt to  bring  it  into  the  ensemble.  Neither 
can  be  done  nor  even  attempted  without  disas- 
ter all  the  way  around. 

In  planting  either  a  rock  garden,  a  wall  gar- 
den, or  a  rockery  always  bear  in  mind  that  ex- 
posure is  of  the  greatest  importance.  Never  put 
plants  on  a  bank  exposed  to  the  south  if  they 
belong  to  the  list  of  those  succeeding  under 
northern  exposure.  This  often  accounts  for  a 
specimen  remaining  alive  only  as  long  as  it  takes 
to  plant  it.  For  though  it  may  seem  only  a 
small  point  it  is  vital — as  will  appear  readily 
enough  when  one  recalls  how  long  a  patch  of 
snow  will  last  on  the  north  side  of  a  hedge  or  a 
fence  or  mass  of  shrubs,  as  compared  to  one  on 
the  south  side.  The  continuous  direct  rays  of 
the  sun  are  as  fatal  to  those  plants  that  have 
been  evolved  in  shade  or  part  shade  as  shade 
and  its  accompanying  chill  are  to  the  sun-loving 
plants;  and  this  is  not  altogether  on  account  of 
the  heat  involved  but  because  of  all  the  accom- 
panying phenomena. 

PLANTS  FOR  ROCK  AND  WALL  GARDENS 

Northern  Exposure  or  in  Shade 
Prostrate  and  Carpet-like 
Starry  grasswort  Cerastium  arvense  White 

Woolly  grasawort  Cerastium  tomentosum  " 

Bugle  weed  Ajuga  reptans  Blue 


266 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


Moss  pink 

Phlox  subulata 

White,  pink,  mauve 

Arenaria 

Arenaria  montana 

White 

Maiden  pink 

Diajithus  deltoides 

Red 

Ground-hele 

Veronica  officinalis 
Erect 

Pale  blue 

Saxifrage 

Saxifraga  Virginiensis 

White 

9 

Cuckoo  flower 

Cardamine  pratensis 

Pink,  white 

20 

Thrift 

Armeria  maritima 

Pink 

12 

Red  baneberry 

Actea  spicata,  rubra 

White 

20 

White  baneberry 

Actea  alba 

White 

20 

^  Wild  Columbine 

Aquilegia  Canadensis 

Red,  yellow 

20 

Snakeroot 

Asarum  Canadense 

Brown 

5 

Harebell 

Campanula  rotundifolia 

Blue 

12 

Bishop's  cap 

Mitella  diphylla 

White 

6 

Douglas's  Clematis 

Clematis  Douglasii 

Lavender 

15 

Pasque  flower 

Anemone  patens 

Lavender-pink 

6 

Southern  Exposure  or  in  Sunlight 

Prostrate  and  Carpet-like 


Hoary  speedwell 

Verojiica  alpina 

Blue  or  violet 

Creeping  speedwell 

Veronica  repens 

Bluish  white 

Wall  pepper 

Sedum  acre 

Yellow 

Live-forever 

Sedum  ternatum 

White 

Stone-crop 

Sedum  hybridum 

Yellow 

House-leek 

Sem,pervivum  tectorum. 

Pale  red 

Rock  cress 

Arabis  albida 

White 

Dryas 

Dryas  octopetala 
Erect 

White 

Bellflower 

Campanula  Carpatica 
Campanula  rhomboidaiis 

Blue 

8  ins. 
10    " 

Butterfly  weed 

Asclepias  tuberosa 

Orange 

18    •• 

Barrenwort 

Epimedium  macranthum 

White  or 

red 

12    " 

" 

Epimedium  Musschianum 

Yellow 

12     •• 

False  miterwort 

Tiarella  cor di folia 

White 

12     " 

Tunica 

Tunica  saxifraga 

Pink 

12     •' 

Madwort 

Alyssum  saxatile 

Yellow 

12     •* 

"Here  is  the  place  where  Loveliness  keeps  house, 
Between  the  river  and  the  wooded  hills, 
Within  a  valley  where  the  Springtime  spills 
Her  firstling  wind-flowers  under  blossoming  boughs; 
Where  Summer  sits  braiding  her  warm,  white  brows 
With  bramble  roses,  and  where  Autumn  fills 
Her  lap  with  asters,  and  old  Winter  frills 
With  crimson  haw  and  hip  his  snowy  blouse.'* 
— ''Here  is  the  Place  .  .  .  ." — Madison  Cawein. 

CHAPTER  XVIII 

Wild  Gardens  and  Wild  Flowers 

THERE  is  perhaps  no  better  definition  of  the 
wild  garden  than  the  simple  statement  that 
it  reproduces  Nature  with  her  own  materials. 
As  distinguished  from  the  naturalistic  garden,  it 
does  not  entertain  hybrid  forms  nor  improved 
forms  of  any  plant,  nor  does  it  admit — in  its 
rigid  interpretation — plants  from  another  clime. 
It  is  composed  wholly  of  aboriginal  species  and 
kinds,  in  other  words;  hence  it  is  the  one  gar- 
den that,  once  established,  may  be  left  to  itself 
— save  for  such  elimination  of  weeds  as  all 
gardens  must  have,  occasionally.  In  one  way  [it 
may  be  said  to  seize  the  materials  at  hand  and 
267 


268  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

reject  all  others;  but  this  would  presuppose 
material  at  hand  and  would  imply  that  a  wild 
garden  can  only  be  created  where  conditions 
generally  are  wild. 

Of  course  this  is  not  absolutely  true,  for  a 
kind  of  wild  garden  may  be  set  up  almost  any- 
where; that  is,  wild  flowers  may  be  domesti- 
cated and  induced  to  grow  in  a  bricked-in,  shut- 
in,  city  plot.  But  note  that  this  is  not  after  all, 
a  wild  garden,  but  rather  a  wild-flower  garden 
— which  is  a  distinction  expressing  a  great  dif- 
ference. For  a  wild  garden  reproduces  the  spirit 
of  the  wilderness  in  every  part  and  is  not,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  dependent  upon  its  flowers  for 
its  effect — though  these  must,  of  course,  bear 
out  the  concept  and  harmonize  with  it.  And 
thus  a  wild  garden  can  have  no  design,  as  such, 
and  must  happen  by  chance  to  a  large  degree. 
Close  study  of  wild  groupings  and  of  possible 
effects  by  means  of  combinations  as  these  occur 
in  a  natural  state,  together  with  an  unusually 
deft  hand  for  imitation,  are  the  essentials  to 
success  in  the  creation  of  a  true  wild  garden; 
and  further  than  to  point  this  out  and  to  offer 
a  few  general  suggestions  I  cannot  pretend  to  go 
in  helping  (on  paper)  to  the  realization  of  this 
type  of  garden. 

Many  cultivated  plants  will  run  wild,  as  the 


WILD  GARDENS  269 

saying  is,  if  they  are  given  a  chance  in  congenial 
environment.  That  is,  they  will  forge  ahead 
and  crowd  out  every  other  kind  that  is  less 
adapted  to  the  situation  and  less  aggressive,  and 
will  multiply  until  they  finally  take  complete 
possession  of  the  space  that  they  covet  because 
of  its  congeniality.  Yet  this  does  not  fit  these 
plants  for  use  in  the  wild  garden  any  more  than 
it  makes  them  truly  wild;  for  it  is  an  unques- 
tionable fact  that  plants  long  cultivated  have 
taken  on  an  elusive  something — comparable  per- 
haps with  the  finish  that  culture  brings  to  man 
— that  sets  them  out  of  harmony  with  wilderness 
conditions  in  a  subtler  way  than  the  mere  asso- 
ciation of  ideas  could  involve. 

By  which  it  appears  that  there  is  more  to  this 
subject  of  wild  flowers  and  wild  gardens  than 
at  first  meets  the  consciousness;  which  makes  it 
the  more  interesting  and  worth  looking  into. 
But  it  is  something  which  each  must  find  out 
for  himself,  after  a  certain  point  is  reached;  so 
without  going  further  along  this  line  I  will  only 
say  that  the  wild  garden,  as  a  definite  concept 
in  garden  making,  involves  a  certain  sense  of  law- 
lessness and  struggle  in  the  vegetation  gracing 
it — not  struggle  carried  to  the  point  of  positive 
destruction  as  in  a  state  of  nature,  but  stopping 
just  short  of  this.     The  bountiful  and  aggres- 


270  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

sive  growth  of  the  plants  in  a  wild  garden  is  held 
just  within  bounds  by  the  gardener,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  who  sets  limits  and  maintains  fair  play 
by  force  of  his  authority,  in  order  that  he  may 
enjoy  a  greater  number  of  kinds  assembled  to- 
gether than  would  otherwise  be  possible  within 
the  prescribed  limits.  That  this  is  what  the 
gardener  does  in  any  kind  of  garden — no  more, 
no  less — simply  indicates  further  that  it  is  the 
way  in  which  these  plants  are  assembled,  quite 
as  much  as  the  kinds  of  plants,  that  we  have  to 
consider.  Their  associations  are  equal  in  im- 
portance to  themselves,  and  the  disposition  and 
character  of  paths,  trees,  shrubs,  stones  and 
every  possible  element  must  be  in  harmony — 
the  whole  conveying  a  sense  of  solitude  and 
really  virgin  retreat. 

It  is  manifestly  impossible  to  hypothesize  all 
the  circumstances,  places  or  conditions  that  will 
invite  the  development  of  a  wild  garden.  Such 
conditions  exist  sometimes  in  the  midst  of  seem- 
ingly the  most  uncordial  spots  and  again  they 
are  absent  when  it  seems  perfectly  logical  to  ex- 
pect to  find  them.  In  general  I  may  say  that 
very  often  it  is  the  place  that  seems  pretty  hope- 
less from  the  gardening  viewpoint,  that  may  be 
properly  devoted  to  the  creation  of  a  wild  gar- 
den.    Sometimes  it  is  the  grade  irregularities 


WILD  GARDENS  271 

that  discourage  endeavor,  sometimes  rough 
ground  configuration  generally  and  perhaps  the 
presence  of  large  trees  and  of  undergrowth. 
Building  plots  at  the  edge  of  woods  or  sidling 
down  into  a  gully  may  be  suited  to  nothing  else 
but  a  wild  garden — probably  will  be;  but  this 
is  not  to  say  that  now  and  then  a  plot  that  is 
neither  of  these  may  not  have  in  and  about  it 
other  elements  that  make  it  congenial  ground 
for  this  treatment. 

One  must  judge  for  himself;  always  with  the 
ideal  of  accepting  Nature's  suggestion  however, 
and  never  with  the  purpose  of  forcing  the  issue. 
Certainly  all  connection  with  tamed  or  culti- 
vated lands  must  be  avoided;  and  certainly 
there  must  be  no  hint  whatsoever,  within  a  wild 
garden,  of  any  of  man's  usual  enterprises.  If 
these  two  conditions  can  be  met  anywhere,  the 
wild  garden  will  not  be  an  anachronism;  but 
if,  by  reason  of  any  element  in  the  surroundings 
of  a  place,  such  absolute  sequestration  is  out  of 
the  question,  the  wild  garden  should  be  aban- 
doned for  a  concept  in  harmony  with  unyielding 
conditions. 

This  is  no  more  than  is  true  of  the  rock  garden, 
or  of  a  water  garden  on  naturalistic  lines.  It  is 
indeed  the  one  thought  reiterated  perhaps  to  a 
wearisome  degree,  in  every  chapter — that  there 


272  COME  INTO  THE  Gx\RDEN 

must  be  harmony  between  the  garden  concept 
and  all  outlying  conditions,  unless  outlying  con- 
ditions can  be  obliterated.  And  this  is  nothing 
more  nor  less,  of  course,  than  recognizing  the 
moods  of  nature  and  of  earth,  and  adopting 
them  by  adapting  to  them.  Where  it  is  pos- 
sible to  run  counter  to  outside  conditions  by 
shutting  them  out  completely — and  desirable 
perhaps,  as  a  walled  garden  in  the  heart  of  city 
congestion — it  may  of  course  be  done;  and  with 
results  that  count  above  all  others  sometimes, 
in  the  way  of  refreshment  and  solace.  But  as 
we  are  here  concerned  with  the  typical  rather 
than  the  exceptional,  I  must  not  only  rigidly  as- 
sert the  limitations,  but  presuppose  them;  which 
I  can  do  in  a  broad  sense  only  by  demanding 
generally  harmonious  conditions  or  such  seclu- 
sion as  I  have  described. 

Starting  with  the  materials  which  are  at  hand 
— assuming  that  the  site  and  conditions  invite 
the  wild  garden — the  whole  procedure  becomes 
an  enterprise  of  almost  moment  by  moment  in- 
spiration; for  one  thing  suggests  another,  and 
these  in  turn  reveal  possibilities  of  still  another, 
and  so  it  goes.  I  am  not  going  to  deal  so  much 
with  the  entirety,  therefore,  as  with  the  possible 
materials  which  will  compose  it;  the  trees  and 
shrubs,  the  earth  corrugations,  the  stones  and 


WILD  GARDENS  273 

stumps,  mosses,  lichens,  and  the  flowers — last, 
but  neither  least  nor  most. 

Of  trees  there  must  be  enough  for  partial 
shade  at  least,  and  if  it  is  wholly  shady  it  will 
be  no  disadvantage.  Given  a  site  otherwise 
suitable,  minus  trees,  the  first  thing  to  do  there- 
fore will  be  to  introduce  these;  not  a  great 
number  perhaps,  but  enough  to  shelter  and 
seclude  a  portion  of  the  space.  And  these  trees 
will  necessarily  be  native  kinds,  and  of  these 
not  a  wide  assortment.  Mingled  together  trees 
grow  in  the  woods,  to  be  sure;  yet  within 
small  space  there  will  be  only  two  large  grow- 
ing kinds  perhaps,  with  some  lower  growth, 
such  as  dogwood  beneath  them.  Keep  to  this 
standard,  using  any  trees  native  to  the  section. 

Of  wide  distribution  are  maples,  beeches,  the 
ash,  the  oak,  the  hickory,  the  sassafras,  the  elm, 
the  tulip  tree,  the  wild  cherry,  plum,  thorn, 
and  birch;  and  any  one  of  these  may  be  chosen 
therefore.  Inasmuch  as  the  wild  cherry,  the 
sassafras,  and  certain  of  the  birches  are  perhaps 
less  esteemed  as  landscape  material,  these  are 
less  often  seen  in  artificial  plantings  and  are  con- 
sequently in  closer  association  with  wilderness 
in  our  thought;  so  choice  might  well  fall  on  one 
or  two  of  these.  Wild  plum  in  a  suitable  variety 
andi^  thorn  will  serve  as  underplanting,  prefer- 


274  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

ably  placed  to  give  the  effect  of  being  pushed 
back  from  the  central  glade  or  more  open 
space. 

Trees  cannot  be  set  out  however  until  the 
various  natural  advantages  and  disadvantages 
of  the  land  itself  have  been  considered  and  their 
treatment  decided  upon.  Where  rough  ground 
exists  the  best  course  usually  is  to  let  every- 
thing alone  as  nearly  as  possible,  as  in  the 
natural  rock  garden.  But  here  also,  as  in  the 
rock  garden,  it  is  sometimes  possible  and  highly 
desirable  to  emphasize  what  actually  is  only  a 
very  slight  feature,  thus  turning  it  into  a  strik- 
ing one. 

Thus  a  bank  may  be  created  where  only  a 
slight  dip  exists;  or  a  tree  growing  pictur- 
esquely away  from  the  perpendicular  through 
some  mischance  may  be  brought  into  promi- 
nence by  stripping  away  growth  that  obscures 
its  peculiarity.  A  stump  offers  opportunity  for 
evolving  sometimes  a  seat,  sometimes  a  natu- 
ral bird  basin;  a  dead  tree  trunk  standing  in- 
vites a  native  vine  like  the  clematis  of  our 
woods,  or  the  wild  grape  or  woodbine  or  bitter- 
sweet— or  fallen  it  may  become  a  chief  feature 
by  disposing  it  a  little  differently  if  need  be,  to 
make  it  a  seat  or  to  bridge  a  depression.  The 
suggestions  lying  in  the  place  itself  and  in  such 


WILD  GARDENS  275 

objects  as  may  be  found  therein  alone  can  de- 
termine these  details,  obviously. 

Stones  scattered  about  may  be  assembled,  not 
to  form  a  rockery  by  any  means,  but  to  con- 
form to  such  a  general  scheme  as  a  bird  basin 
or  a  seat  or  a  campfire  site  may  involve.  For 
although  the  wild  garden  should  be  eloquent  of 
solitude  and  have  the  virginal  quality  I  have 
suggested,  it  is  of  course  understood  that  this 
remains  to  it  because  of  the  finished  artistry 
with  which  such  things  as  seats  and  shelters  and 
bird  basins  are  developed  and  introduced  and 
not  because  they  are  omitted.  It  should  not 
lack  anything  that  may  enhance  its  entertain- 
ing charm;  but  it  must  remain  wild  in  aspect 
notwithstanding.  It  is  the  use  of  materials  that 
are  found  on  the  spot  that  helps  largely  in  this; 
but  unless  they  are  used  with  such  cleverness  of 
imitation  that  it  hides  cleverness  and  allays  sus- 
picion of  imitation,  they  will  still  fall  short  of 
producing  the  desired  result. 

Under  most  conditions  conceivable  I  would 
not  advise  such  a  thing  as  a  retaining  wall  of 
stone  to  hold  up  a  bank  in  a  wild  garden.  Yet 
if  this  will  improve  a  situation  and  if  it  can  be 
built  so  naturalistically  that  it  will  take  on  the 
appearance  of  just  a  mass  of  rocks  pushed  up 
from  below,  against  which  the  earth  has  seeped 


276  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

in  in  the  slow  processes  of  time,  there  can  be 
no  objection  to  using  it.  Of  course  it  will  not 
be  of  the  type  seen  in  other  kinds  of  places;  and 
if  a  tree  of  crooked  aspect  can  be  planted  in  a 
crevice  of  it,  so  much  the  better. 

The  use  of  stone  is  an  art  in  itself — particu- 
larly the  use  of  it  to  produce  natural  effects. 
Without  going  into  the  kinds  which  it  may  be 
desirable  to  assemble  together  and  the  kinds 
which  should  be  excluded,  it  is  enough  to  say 
that  stones  from  below  the  surface  of  the  ground 
are  not  usually  weathered  to  the  degree  neces- 
sary for  the  best  results.  Select,  therefore,  from 
on  top  of  the  ground,  or  from  a  creek  bed;  and 
consider  color  combinations  and  the  delicate 
tones  which  fungi  bring  to  them  more  even 
than  you  consider  form.  There  will  always  be 
found  a  way  to  get  stones  together,  whatever 
their  form;  but  nothing  will  alter  the  raw  effect 
of  stones  that  have  not  been  exposed  to  the  ele- 
ments. And  of  course  seats  or  bird  basins  in 
the  wild  garden  ought  never  to  be  of  artificial 
material.  Make  these  things  of  stones  or  of 
stumps  or  fallen  trees,  as  suggested — or  else  do 
not  have  them  at  all. 

For  the  wild  garden  it  is  not  possible  to  de- 
termine as  exactly  as  a  planting  plan  involves, 
the  position  of  plants — therefore  it  is  practically 


WILD  GARDENS  277 

impossible  to  make  such  a  plan,  or  to  work  to  it 
if  it  is  made.  But  the  space  can  be  laid  off  in  a 
general  way,  according  to  exposure,  shade,  and 
soil  conditions  or  character;  and  on  these  plot- 
tings  it  is  well  to  write  in  the  kind  of  plants  that 
may  be  used.  For  example,  none  of  the  heath 
family — of  which  rhododendrons,  laurel,  the 
huckleberries  and  azaleas  are  familiar  members 
— like  an  alkali  or  limestone  soil;  certain  other 
wild  flowers  prefer  cool  roots  but  sun  on  their 
heads;  still  another  lot  will  have  none  of  it  at 
all,  while  there  are  many  who  rejoice  in  nothing 
save  the  driest  and  hottest  places  available. 
Plot  the  garden  space  out  and  mark  it  with  just 
these  key  words — "shade,"  "hot  sun,"  "part 
shade,"  "lime,"  "acid,"  "wet."  Then  you  are 
ready  to  begin  selecting  either  from  the  cata- 
logues or  from  the  woods  themselves,  the  plants 
that  are  to  go  into  it. 

If  you  go  to  the  woods,  always  exercise  re- 
straint in  gathering  material,  unless  they  are 
woods  that  will  soon  be  obliterated  altogether. 
From  such  localities  there  seems  justification  for 
regarding  it  as  a  rescue  of  doomed  plants  instead 
of  wanton  disregard  of  forest  law  to  take  as 
many  as  possible  into  the  shelter  of  a  wild  gar- 
den— but  certainly  not  from  anywhere  else. 
Either  buy  from  the  specialists  who  grow  this 


278  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

class  of  material,  or  else  take  only  a  specimen 
here  and  there,  and  then  with  due  regard  to 
doing  the  ones  left  no  injury.  For  although  the 
wild  flowers  that  will  naturalize  in  the  garden 
are  sturdy  and  sometimes  rampant  growers,  it  is 
true  that  the  choicest  are  elusive  and  highly 
susceptible  to  injury  and  that,  through  the  care- 
lessness of  collectors  who  injure  perhaps  an  en- 
tire stand  in  taking  a  specimen,  many  are 
rapidly  becoming  extinct. 

It  is  possible  and  of  course  highly  desirable 
to  carry  bloom  throughout  the  spring,  summer, 
and  autumn  with  just  wild  flowers,  although  we 
do  commonly  associate  them  with  the  vernal 
season  especially.  This  is  perhaps  because  the 
first  comers  find  us  more  eager  for  signs  of  awak- 
ening vegetation,  while  later  on  so  much  engages 
attention  there  is  no  time  for  all.  Of  the  plants 
given,  the  season  of  bloom  is  given  also,  together 
with  the  preference  for  sun  or  shade — where 
such  preference  exists — but  I  have  made  no 
special  distinctions  as  to  soil,  since  all  except 
the  heaths  will  accommodate  themselves  usually 
to  ordinary  conditions  below  ground. 

Of  these  it  is  understood  that  leaf  mold  such 
as  they  dwell  in  when  growing  wild,  formed  by 
the  annual  deposit  on  the  ground  of  the  leaves 
of  the  forest — which  also  serve  as  a  general 


WILD  GARDENS 


279 


mulch  during  the  winter  to  keep  out  the  cold, 
and  a  root  mulch  during  the  summer  to  keep 
out  the  heat  from  the  roots — is  their  require- 
ment, with  never  a  bit  of  lime  nor  of  commercial 
fertilizer  used  around  them.  To  superinduce  the 
acid  soil  which  they  revel  in,  the  waste  from  a 
cider  press  is  sometimes  resorted  to,  and  with  a 
high  degree  of  success  apparently.  This  cannot 
be  used  on  the  surface  of  the  ground  of  course, 
but  may  be  turned  in  as  manure  is,  and  well 
covered;  and  the  plants  set  out  afterward. 


PLANTS  FOR  THE  WILD  GARDEN 

Spring  and  Early  Summer  Flowers  fob  Shade 


Adder's  tongue 

Anemone  (wood) 

Arbutus 

Bellwort  (or 

"Wildcats") 

Bloodroot 

Bunchberry 

Clintonia 

False  Solomon's  seal 

Foamflower 

Golden  seal 

Ground  lily  (or 

Wake-robin) 

Jack-in-the-pulpit 

Liverleaf 

May  apple 

Milkwort 

Mitrewort  (fringed) 

Pappoose  root 

Partridge  berry 

Pipsissewa 

Rue 


Erythronium  Americanum 
Anemone  quinquefolia 
Epigcea  repens 
Uvularia  grandiflora 
Uvularia  perfoliata 
Sanguinaria  Canadensis 
Cornus  Canadensis 
Clintonia  borealis 
Smilacina  racemosa 
Tiarella  cordifolia 
Hydrastis  Canadensis 
Trillium  erectum 
Trillium  grandiflorum 
Arisoema  triphyllum 
Hepatica  triloba 
Podophyllum  peltatum 
Polygala  paucifolia 
Mitella  diphylla 
Caulophyllum  thalictroides 
Mitchella  repens 
Chimaphila  maculata 
Thalictrum  dioicum 


YeUow 

Wliite 

Pink 

Yellowish 

Pale  yellow 

Pinkish  white 

White 

Green-yellow 

Greenish  white 

White 

Greenish-white 

Purple 

White 

Purplish  green 

Lavender 

White 

Rose-purple 

White 

Yellow-green 

Pinkish  white 

White 

Purplish 


6  inches 

4      *' 
Prostrate 
15  inches 
10      " 

8      " 

8      " 

2  feet 

3  " 
12  inches 
10  " 
12  " 
12  " 
12       " 

6       *' 

18  •• 
6  " 
6  " 
2  feet 

Trailing 
6  inches 
2    feet 


280 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


Saxifrage 
Shooting  star 
Shortia 

Snakeroot  (Canada) 
Snakeroot  (Seneca) 
Spring  beauty 
Toothwort 
Violet  (blue) 
Violet  (downy) 
Violet  (wild) 


Saxifraga  Virginiensis 
Dodocatheon  Media 
Shortia  galaci folia 
Asarum  Canadense 
Polygala  Senega 
Claytonia  Virginica 
Dentaria  diphylla 
Viola  cucullata 
Viola  pubescens 
Viola  Canadensis 


White 

12  inches 

Purplish 

18      " 

White 

6      " 

Brown 

Low 

White 

12  inches 

Rose 

Low 

White 

10  inches 

Blue-purple 

10      " 

Yellow 

10      " 

Purplish  white 

12       " 

Late  Summer  and  Autumn  Flowers  for  Shade 


Aster  (blue) 

Aster  cor dif alius 

Blue 

4  feet,  bushy 

Aster  (white) 

Aster  divaricatus 

White 

3  feet,  slender 

Aster  (panicled) 

Aster  paniculatus 

White,  purple 

3-6  feet 

Aster  (smooth) 

Aster  Icevis 

Blue-violet 

2-4  feet,  slender 

Baneberry  (red) 

Actcea  spicata,  rubra 

White 

2  feet 

Baneberry 

Actcea  alba 

White 

18  inches 

Bugbane 

Cimicifuga  racemosa 

White 

3-8  feet 

Coltsfoot 

Galax  aphylla 

White 

12  inches 

Cowslip  (Virginia) 

Mertensia  Virginica 

Purple 

2  feet 

Dog  fennel 

Aster  ericoides 

White 

3  feet,  bushy 

Gentian  (closed) 

Gentiana  Andrewsi 

Blue 

15  inches 

Solomon's  seal 

Polygonatum  biflorum 

Greenish 

12      " 

Twisted-stalk 

Streptopus  roseus 

Rose-purple 

18      " 

Spring  and  Early  Summer  Flowers  for  Sunlight 


Dutchman's  breeches 

Dicentra  cucullaria 

White 

8  inches 

Iris  (dwarf) 

Iris  verna 

Violet-blue 

6      " 

Iris  (crested) 

Iris  cristata 

Blue-white 

3      " 

Lily  (meadow) 

Lilium  Canadense 

Yellow-red 

2  to  4  feet 

Lupine 

Lupinus  perennis 

Blue 

1  "  2    " 

Pink-root 

Spigelia  marilandica 

Red 

1  ••  2    •• 

Squirrel  corn 

Dicentra  Canadensis 

Green-white 

8  inches 

Late  Summer  and  Autumn  Flowers  for  Sunlight 


Bedstraw 

Galium  boreale 

White 

1  to  3  feet 

Butterfly-weed 

Asclepias  tuber osa 

Orange 

2  feet 

Button  snake-root 

Liatris  scariosa 

Rose-purple 

2  to  4  feet 

Cardinal  flower 

Lobelia  cardinalis 

Vivid  red 

2  "  4    " 

Compass  plant 

Silphium  perfoliatum 

Yellow 

5  "  7    *i 

Goldenrod 

Solidago  Canadensis 

Yellow 

4  feet 

WILD  GARDENS 


281 


Goldenrod 

Solidago  nemoralis 

Yellow 

2  to  3  feet 

Goldenrod  (fragrant)     Solidago  odora 

Yellow 

3  feet 

Great  lobelia 

Lobelia  siphilitica 

Light  blue 

2  to  4  feet 

Joe  Pye  weed 

Eupatorium  purpureum     Purple 

4  "  10  " 

Lily  (Turk's  cap) 

Lilium  superbum 

Orange-red 

3  "  6    " 

Lily  (wood) 

Lilium  Philadelphicum     Red-orange 

2  feet 

Milkweed  (swamp)         Asclepias  incarnata 

Rose-purple 

2  "  3    •• 

Oswego  tea 

Monarda  didyma 

Shrubs 

Scarlet 

2  "  3    " 

Allegheny  plum 

Prunus  Allegheniensis 

Any  soil 

12  to  15  feet 

Appalachian  tea 

Viburnum  cassinoides 

Any  soil 

6  "  12    " 

Azalea  (smooth) 

Azalea  arborescens 

Part  shade 

8  "  20    " 

Azalea  (clammy) 

Azalea  viscosa 

Moist  places 

4  "     8    " 

Bayberry 

Myrica  cerifera 

Sandy  soil 

4  feet 

Great  laurel 

Rhododendron  maximum 

Shade 

6  to  30  feet 

Hazelnut 

Corylus  Americana 

Shade  or  sun 

3  "     8    •• 

Laurel 

Kalmia  latifolia 

Shade 

4  "  10    " 

Red  osier 

Cornus  stolonifera 

Shade  or  sun 

8  feet 

Rhodora 

Rhododendron  Canadense 

Moist  places 

3    " 

Shadbush 

Amelanchier  Botryapium 

Shade  or  sun 

12  to  15  feet 

Sheep-berry 

Viburnum  Lentago 

Part  shade 

20  "  30    " 

Witch-hazel 

Hamamelis  Virginiana 

Moist,  shade 

25  feet 

"Prayer  and  praise  in  a  country  home. 
Honey  and  fruit;  a  man  might  come, 
Fed  on  such  meats,  to  walk  abroad. 
And  in  his  orchard  talk  with  God." 

— Oj  an  Orchard — Katharine  Tynan. 

CHAPTER  XIX 

Garden  Fruits  of  Tree  and  Bush 

THERE  are  many  times  good  and  sufficient 
reasons  why  a  garden  shall  not  be  planned 
to  produce  vegetables,  notwithstanding  all  there 
is  to  be  said  of  obligations  and  responsibilities 
— and  this  I  am  perfectly  willing  to  grant.  But 
there  is  never  any  reason  why  even  the  tiniest 
garden  shall  be  unproductive  in  the  matter  of 
fruit — and  nothing  that  can  be  planted  yields 
such  generous  returns  on  the  money,  time,  and 
space  devoted  to  it.  Furthermore,  no  fruit 
that  can  be  had  from  the  markets  ever  equals 
in  quality  the  fruit  that  may  be  grown  in  the 
private  garden,  for  the  simple  reason  that  com- 
mercial growers  never  raise  the  choicest  vari- 
eties. It  is  with  fruits,  when  grown  commer- 
cially, as  with  vegetables;  certain  requirements 
282 


FRUITS  FOR  SMALL  GARDEN        283 

must  be  met,  owing  to  the  exigencies  of  ship- 
ping and  storing  and  what  not,  and  flavor  and 
quahty  must  be  sacrificed  to  these  else  the  rais- 
ing of  fruit  for  sale  would  not  be  profitable.  It 
is  no  exaggeration  therefore  to  say  that  no  one 
knows  the  true  flavor  of  a  really  fine  apple  or 
peach  who  has  never  picked  one  of  the  superla- 
tive varieties  from  the  stem  and  eaten  it  on 
the  spot! 

Of  all  the  fruits  of  the  northern  hemisphere 
the  apple  is  justly  the  most  popular,  since  it  is 
the  most  abundant,  most  permanent,  and  most 
useful  to  the  greatest  number.  An  apple  has 
two-thirds  as  much  nutriment  as  a  potato;  and 
down  to  the  very  last  bit  of  skin  every  one  is 
usable,  for  even  windfalls  and  imperfect  speci- 
mens will  yield  a  delicious  beverage  and  as  fine 
a  vinegar  as  can  be  produced.  Apples  the  year 
around  are  possible,  by  selecting  the  right  va- 
rieties; and  this  is  true  of  even  the  small  gar- 
den, since  the  dwarfed  trees  may  be  used  in 
these.  Fortunately  the  nurserymen  of  this 
country  have  learned  how  to  grow  these  dwarf 
forms — importation  being  at  present  prohibited ; 
and  they  will  of  course  continue  to  grow  them, 
for  the  demand  for  them  grows  apace. 

Standard  apple  trees  require  to  be  set  from 
thirty-five  to  forty  feet  apart;   that  is,  a  stand- 


284  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

ard  tree's  spread  is  estimated  to  be  that  at 
maturity.  It  will  occupy,  in  other  words,  about 
one  thousand  square  feet.  As  a  dwarf  tree  oc- 
cupies but  fifty  square  feet — they  require  to  be 
set  no  more  than  eight  feet  apart,  hence  this 
amount  is  taken  as  the  diameter  of  their  circle 
— it  is  apparent  that  twenty  dwarfs  might  be 
set  in  the  space  of  a  single  standard.  We  may 
reduce  this  twenty  per  cent  to  allow  for  waste 
space,  and  set  the  number  at  sixteen.  Depend- 
ing upon  the  variety,  the  tree's  age,  and  the 
season,  standard  apple  trees  yield  from  twenty 
to  thirty-five  bushels  of  apples  a  year,  on  the 
average.  Dwarf  trees,  well  tended  and  brought 
up  to  their  maximum,  will  produce  when  ma- 
ture from  two  to  three  or  more  bushels  an- 
nually. Therefore  it  appears  there  is  not  only 
the  advantage  of  having  several  varieties  but 
actually  of  quantity  of  fruit,  favoring  the  use 
of  dwarfs.  The  actual  saving  in  space  is  not, 
moreover,  shown  by  these  figures,  for  dwarf 
trees  may  be  planted  in  rows  and  in  restricted 
areas  where  a  standard  tree  could  not  be  used 
at  all.  Indeed  they  are  useful  as  shrubbery,  if 
no  other  space  is  available  in  which  to  put  them. 
But  remember  always  that  they  require  proper 
care  and  pruning  and  spraying. 

The  only  fruits  available  in  dwarf  form  are 


FRUITS  FOR  SMALL  GARDEN        285 

apples  and  pears.  But  the  other  tree  fruits  are 
not  of  such  large  growth  as  the  standard  apple 
tree,  even  the  largest — the  cherry — taking  on 
more  the  character  of  an  ornamental  tree  in 
those  varieties  which  attain  any  considerable 
size.  This,  in  fact,  may  very  well  be  used  in  place 
of  a  purely  ornamental  tree  for  shade,  since  it  will 
thrive  without  the  special  attention  other  fruit- 
ing trees  need.  And  inasmuch  as  cherries  are 
increasingly  difficult  to  obtain  in  quantity  from 
market,  of  late  years,  and  as  they  make  really 
splendid  trees  as  they  age,  I  would  most  cer- 
tainly advise  planting  at  least  one  of  the  old- 
fashioned  pie  cherry  trees,  invariably. 

It  is  with  the  rarer  fruits,  however,  that  the 
greatest  personal  rewards  lie,  for  the  private 
garden.  Peaches  are  of  course  obtainable  in 
market,  but  never  in  choice  varieties.  Plums 
sometimes  appear,  but  of  doubtful  quality;  nec- 
tarines and  apricots  are  unknown  save  here  and 
there — yet  how  delicious  they  are,  and  how 
easily  grown  too,  as  a  matter  of  fact !  Wherever 
peaches  are  hardy,  both  apricots  and  nectarines 
are;  but  as  they  also  are  naturally  early  bloom- 
ers, the  great  difficulty  in  growing  them  is  the 
premature  start  that  they  make  under  our  pre- 
cocious springs.  The  trees  themselves  are  not 
killed,  but  annually  their  fruit  buds  are;    for 


286  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

starting  to  swell  the  instant  the  warm  sun  of 
late  winter  shines  on  them,  they  are  nipped  by 
the  frost  of  early  spring. 

The  only  means  of  overcoming  this  general 
tendency  is  to  select  a  site  for  trees  of  this 
species  which  is  unfavorable  to  the  very  early 
development  of  their  flower  buds.  It  is  never 
the  warm  corners  that  they  should  have,  with 
full  sun,  but  the  chilly  places  and  northern  ex- 
posure. This  does  not  mean  of  course  that  full 
exposure  to  the  roughest  winds  of  winter  is 
proper,  but  it  does  mean  that  the  tendency  to 
coddle  must  be  inhibited.  Perhaps  the  best 
place  for  either  the  apricot  or  the  nectarine  is 
trained  in  the  old-world  fashion  on  a  garden 
wall  or  the  side  of  a  building.  But  this  should 
never  be  of  southern  exposure.  Rather  let  it 
be  west  or  north,  with  protective  branches  of 
evergreens  set  up,  if  it  is  the  latter,  to  screen  it 
from  the  strongest  of  winter  winds — or  even  a 
screen  planting  of  evergreens  inclosing  the  site 
at  some  distance  to  protect  it  from  hard  winds 
at  any  time.  This  is  indeed  a  wise  protection 
of  all  fruits  of  the  stone  class — save  the  cherries, 
which  are  hardy  enough  to  endure  anything. 

Peaches,  apricots,  and  nectarines  require 
practically  the  same  soil,  being  close  relatives; 
this  should  preferably  be  light  and  sandy  and 


As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  is  inclined  whatever  it  may- 
be— wherefore  a  fruit  tree  growing  on  a  wall  is  easy  to 
acquire  providing  a  proper  start  is  made  early  in  its  life 


FRUITS  FOR  SMALL  GARDEN        287 

not  over  enriched.  In  fact  strong  and  rich 
lands  are  a  disadvantage,  since  they  promote  a 
luxuriant  growth  of  wood  and  top  and  the 
strength  of  the  tree  goes  into  this  at  the  expense 
of  fruit.  Not  much  manure  is  to  be  applied, 
therefore,  at  any  time;  but  always  potash  in 
the  form  of  hardwood  ashes,  and  phosphate  in 
the  form  of  ground  bone,  these  two  elements 
being  the  special  foods  which  build  up  strong 
wood  and  fruit  and  nourish  flowers. 

The  nectarine  is  a  smooth-skinned  fruit  re- 
sembling a  plum  very  much  more — to  the  lay- 
man— than  it  resembles  a  peach.  It  is  of  the 
latter  species  however,  regardless  of  appear- 
ances— for  nectarines  have  been  grown  from 
peach  seeds  and  peaches  from  nectarines 
through  the  process  scientifically  distinguished 
as  bud  variation;  which  is  proof  conclusive.  Its 
flesh  is  yellowish  green,  very  tender  and  of 
sweet,  rich  flavor;  and  there  are  of  course  differ- 
ent varieties  as  of  other  fruits.  Like  the  peach 
these  are  early  and  late,  the  former  ripening  in 
August  usually  while  the  latter  are  perhaps  ten 
days  to  a  fortnight  later.  Apricots  are  one  of 
the  most  decorative  of  trees  in  flower,  one  va- 
riety being  grown  in  Japan — their  native  land 
— just  for  its  bloom.  They  like  a  soil  that  is  a 
little  heavier   than   the  peach   and  nectarine 


288  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

thrive  on,  but  otherwise  their  requirements  are 
the  same.  The  fruit,  famihar  enough  in  its 
dried  form,  is  dehciously  sweet  and  delicate 
when  eaten  from  the  tree.  It  comes  moreover 
between  the  cherries  and  the  peaches,  when  gar- 
den fruit  is  scarce. 

Of  all  fruits  in  the  world  the  quince  is  to  me 
the  most  beautiful  in  bloom — and  one  of  the 
loveliest  in  fruit  and  one  of  the  most  delicious, 
when  properly  handled.  One  or  two  quince 
bushes  backing  a  shrubbery  border — or  as  many 
as  there  may  be  space  for — furnish  a  display  of 
bloom  more  gorgeous  than  anything  else  of  the 
same  size  or  same  period;  and  indeed  more  gor- 
geous than  almost  any  shrub,  at  any  time. 
Great  single  pink  blossoms  like  wild  roses,  cov- 
ering every  branch  until  they  look  more  like 
huge  bouquets  than  like  shrubs  or  bushes,  dis- 
tinguish this  from  everything  else;  and  the  only 
thing  comparable  to  a  quince  bush  in  bloom  is  an 
apple  tree — or  perhaps  a  flowering  dogwood. 
The  fruit  is  of  course  quite  impossible  to  eat  in 
the  raw  state;  but  as  it  is  one  of  the  most  de- 
licious of  all  when  properly  cooked  (and  that 
means  cooked  slowly  until  it  is  the  color  of  rich 
port  wine)  its  failure  to  tempt  from  the  tree  may 
very  well  be  regarded  as  an  advantage — espe- 
cially if  the  situation  is  exposed! 


FRUITS  FOR  SMALL  GARDEN        289 

Fruit  trees  benefit  by  cultivation  and  atten- 
tion quite  as  positively  as  do  vegetables  or 
flowers,  even  though  they  will  grow  after  a  fash- 
ion, and  bear  fruit,  without  it.  With  the 
dwarfed  trees  it  is  essential,  since  the  severe 
pruning  to  which  these  are  subjected  during 
their  early  years — and  annually  as  well,  since 
pruning  alone  will  keep  them  down  to  the  proper 
buds  and  branches  to  insure  a  good  yield  of 
fruit — depletes  their  vitality,  and  only  studied 
feeding  will  overcome  this.  WTiere  it  is  possible 
to  place  fruit  trees  along  the  boundary  of  the 
vegetable  garden,  preferably  on  the  north  side 
in  order  that  they  shall  not  deprive  the  vege- 
tables of  full  sun,  this  is  an  excellent  place  for 
them;  for  it  makes  very  little  extra  tillage  neces- 
sary, since  they  benefit  by  all  that  is  done  for 
the  vegetables,  as  well  as  by  the  fertilizer  ap- 
plied to  the  garden  space. 

The  bush  fruits  lend  themselves  to  wall  or 
fence  training  in  a  way  that  is  almost  never 
taken  advantage  of,  unfortunately.  By  allow- 
ing space  for  them  flat  against  the  garden  wall 
or  a  boundary  fence,  a  great  number  may  be 
accommodated  without  interfering  in  the  least 
with  anything  else.  Blackberries  and  rasp- 
berries are  naturally  in  need  of  support,  and 
their  long  canes  are  never  better  supported  than 


9.90  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

when  fastened  against  the  flat  surface  of  wall  or 
fence.  This  also  keeps  them  from  reaching  out 
in  the  exasperating  fashion  they  have,  to  hook 
themselves  upon  the  unwary  passer-by;  and  as 
the  plants  must  be  gone  over  annually  to  remove 
old  wood,  and  to  take  out  weak  new  wood — 
leaving  about  six  canes  to  a  plant — the  labor  of 
fastening  the  branches  up  is  really  not  to  be  con- 
sidered as  an  extra.  They  must  be  handled 
anyway. 

Currants  and  gooseberries  may  be  grown  be- 
tween the  rows  of  fruit  trees  in  a  garden  made 
up  wholly  of  fruits;  or  they  too  may  take  their 
place  along  a  boundary.  Currants  do  better  in 
shade,  hence  are  especially  suited  to  under- 
planting  between  trees.  Gooseberries  like  par- 
tial shade,  but  do  better  if  this  falls  on  them 
during  the  hottest  part  of  the  day  from  a  build- 
ing rather  than  from  trees;  hence  they  are  not 
quite  as  well  for  planting  in  the  midst  of  trees, 
though  it  may  be  done.  Both  of  these  fruits 
prefer  a  deep,  rich,  moist,  cool  soil;  and  to  in- 
sure this  coolness  at  their  roots  it  is  always  well 
to  mulch  them  during  the  summer  with  grass 
clippings,  especially  in  the  warmer  sections. 

Grapes  should  always  be  used  as  abundantly 
as  possible,  for  in  addition  to  being  a  highly 
valuable  food,  they  furnish  one  of  the  most  or- 


FRUITS  FOR  SMALL  GARDEN        291 

namental  shade  plants  that  there  is,  properly 
supported  on  arbor  or  trellis.  And  they  may  be 
grown  of  course  where  nothing  else  finds  room, 
if  space  is  so  restricted;  give  a  vine  root-hold 
and  a  porch  or  vertical  trellis  to  climb  on,  and 
it  will  do  the  rest. 

Each  section  of  the  country  has  of  course 
varieties  of  every  fruit  that  for  one  reason  or 
another  are  preferred  there.  To  advise  for  all 
sections  therefore  is  obviously  impossible;  but 
I  have  chosen  a  few  of  each  of  the  standard 
fruits  which  are  of  finest  quality  where  they 
will  grow,  as  an  example  of  the  choice  I  would 
suggest.  In  any  section  it  is  always  well  to 
have  a  list  gone  over  by  the  nearest  Experiment 
Station,  in  order  to  be  sure  of  its  suitability  for 
that  particular  region;  but  always  explain,  in 
requesting  them  to  do  this,  that  it  is  quality  you 
are  seeking  and  not  varieties  which  will  excel  in 
productiveness  alone. 

CHOICE  VARIETIES  OF  FRUITS 

Apples 

The  soil  in  which  apples  do  their  best  is  inclined  towards  clay, 
but  in  the  private  garden  practically  any  good  average  soil  will 
be  perfectly  all  right.  A  hillside  provides  desirable  conditions 
for  an  orchard,  usually,  owing  to  the  better  drainage.  Apples 
must  always  be  sprayed  to  keep  them  in  good  condition. 


292 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


Summer  Varieties  Fall  Varieties 

Red  Astracban  Duchess  of  Oldenburg 

Yellow  Transparent    Gravenstein 
Early  Harvest  Mcintosh  Red 


Winter  Varieties 
Winter  Banana 
Stayman's  Winesap 
R.  I.  Greening 
Northern  Spy 
King 


Pears 

A  rather  hard  clay  soil  suits  pears  better  than  any  other,  as  it 
is  desirable  for  them  to  make  their  growth  slowly  in  order  to  in- 
sure strong  fiber  in  their  wood.     Pears  require  spraying  also. 


Early 
Wilder 
Clapp's  Favorite 


Medium 
Seckel 

Peaches 


Late 
Anjou 
Winter  Nelis 


Light  sandy  soil  is  best  suited  to  the  peach  and  to  its  close  rela- 
tives, the  Apricot  and  Nectarine.  Spraying  is  necessary  to  keep 
these  in  health  and  insure  perfect  fruit. 


Early 
Greensboro 
Belle  of  Georgia 


Medium 
Globe 
Early  Rivers 


Apricots 
Alberge  de  Montgamet 


Late 
Stump  the  World 
Stevens  Rareripe 


Moorpark 


Nectarines 


Early  Violet 


Elruge 


Cherries 

Sweet  cherries  prefer  a  light,  rather  dry,  but  retentive  soil. 
Sour  cherries  like  more  moisture  and  will  do  well  in  the  heavier 
land. 

Sour  Sweet 

Montmorency  Robert's  Redheart 

English  Morello  Windsor 


FRUITS  FOR  SMALL  GARDEN        293 


Plums 

Practically  any  good  soil  suits  the  plum,  though  if  it  inclines 
toward  heavy  it  may  be  more  favorable.  They  produce  larger 
fruit,  it  is  claimed,  when  mulched  as  they  like  moisture  retained 
at  their  roots.  The  Japanese  varieties  are  inferior  in  flavor 
though  very  prolific.  For  the  private  garden  therefore  I  do  not 
advise  them. 


Purple 

Red 

Yellow 

Apple 

Fellenburg 

Damson 

Bradshaw 
Lombard 

Imperial  Gage 

Quinces 

These  should  be  sprayed  the  same  as  apples  and  pears,  as  the 
same  insects  attack  them,  causing  wormy  or  distorted  fruit.  Any 
ordinary  soil  suits  them. 

Meech's  Prolific  Champion 


Currants 

Red 

White 

Black 

Fay's  Prolific 
Perfection 

White  Grape 

Black  Naples 

Gooseberries 

These  require  high  and  abundant  fertilizing. 

Downing  Josselyn  Red  Jacket 

Raspberries 
Red  Black 

St.  Regis  (everbearing)  Plum  Farmer 


Blackberries 

Eldorado,  Early  Harvest;    also  the  Lucretia  Dewberry,  the 
Himalaya  berry  and  the  Loganberry. 


294  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

Grapes 

Any  good  soil  suits  the  grape,  but  extra  feeding  and  mulch  will 
improve  it  greatly — especially  if  water  b  supplied  at  the  roots. 


Red-purple 

Blue-black 

White 

Lindley 

Worden 

Niagara 

Brighton 

*'The  sturdy  seedling  with  arched  body  comes. 
Shouldering  its  way  and  shedding  the  earth  crumbs." 
— Putting  in  the  Seed — Robert  Frost. 

"Could  I  but  show  to  you  the  cabbages  which  mine  own 
hands  have  planted  in  my  garden  at  Salona,  you  would  no 
longer  urge  me  to  relinquish  the  enjoyment  of  happiness 
for  the  pursuit  of  power." — Diocletian's  answer  to  Maxi- 
mian  when  urged  to  resume  the  Imperial  purple. 

"He  who  sows  the  ground  with  care  and  diligence  ac- 
quires a  greater  stock  of  religious  merit  than  he  could 
gain  by  the  repetition  of  ten  thousand  prayers." — The 
Zend- A  vesta — Zoroaster. 


CHAPTER   XX 

The  Vegetable  Garden 

AND  here  at  the  last  we  come  to  the  first 
L  kind  of  garden  that  was  made — whether  we 
speak  in  the  figurative  language  which  places 
stern  necessity  just  outside  the  gates  of  Eden  and 
consequent  upon  a  certain  lady's  misadventure 
with  an  apple,  or  in  the  more  prosaic  terms  of 
anthropology.  For  man  planted  and  tended 
food  plants  ages  and  ages  before  he  dreamed  of 
troubling  himself  with  tending  a  rose — or  even 
295 


296  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

an  apple  tree  or  a  berry  bush.  Apples  grew 
wild  on  many  a  tree,  and  berries  on  wild  bushes, 
and  were  his  for  the  picking;  but  turnips  and 
cabbages  and  all  that  sort  of  thing  had  to  be 
watched  over  and  guarded  from  prowling  beasts, 
as  well  as  from  over-admiring  neighbors  as  the 
tribe  increased.  So  it  was  with  such  as  these,  if 
not  with  these  themselves,  that  he  first  busied 
himself. 

Speaking  of  which  it  is  perhaps  of  interest,  in 
connection  with  the  serious  consideration  of  the 
vegetable  garden  which  befits  our  time  and 
generation,  to  note  that  the  aboriginal  form  of 
the  cabbage — hrassica  oleracea — which  grows 
wild  on  the  sea  cliffs  of  western  and  southern 
Europe  and  the  chalk  cliffs  of  the  English  Chan- 
nel, and  which  is  the  progenitor  of  all  forms  of 
cabbage,  cauliflower,  kale,  and  sprouts,  was  with- 
out doubt  an  important  article  of  food  in  the 
diet  of  the  barbarians  first  occupying  these  re- 
gions; for  "when  history  begins  it  had  already 
been  transferred  to  cultivated  grounds  and  had 
begun  to  produce  dense  rosettes  or  heads  of 
leaves." 

This  great  plant  family — Brassica — is  in- 
digenous indeed  throughout  the  temperate  re- 
gions of  the  old  world,  and  includes  all  the  mus- 
tards and  the  turnips  as  well  as  the  cabbages; 


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»— 1 

a 

THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN  297 

hence  it  is  a  logical  inference  that  accords  it 
patriarchal  honors  among  all  the  tribes  that 
have  been  drawn  upon  to  contribute  to  our  food 
supply — whether  we  individually  cherish  a  taste 
for  it  in  any  of  its  forms,  or  not.  And  it  is 
further  one  of  the  most  important  vegetable 
families  of  the  present;  and  will  always  so  re- 
main beyond  peradventure. 

The  introduction  of  the  potato,  this  hemi- 
sphere's great  sixteenth-century  contribution  to 
the  world's  food  sources,  did  of  course  reduce 
the  almost  complete  dependence  of  Europeans 
upon  the  turnip  as  a  staple  of  their  own  diet, 
however  much  they  still  required  it  for  their 
stock.  Yet  while  John  Winthrop  was  Governor 
of  the  New  England  Colony  it  was  the  latter 
that  still  held  first  place.  And  as  a  matter  of 
fact  the  potato  did  not  come  into  general  use 
until  about  1800,  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
world,  at  any  rate.  Native  to  South  America, 
as  is  the  sweet  potato  also,  it  is  surely  one  of  the 
whims  of  fate  that  brought  it  to  these  shores  by 
way  of  the  Spanish  adventurers,  who  first  took 
both  kinds  home  to  Spain!  And  "Spanish  po- 
tatoes" they  were,  these  good  white  potatoes 
loved  by  all  the  world  to-day,  for  a  long  time; 
and  for  long  were  a  "despised  root"  according 
to  one  old  authority. 


298  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

Do  I  digress?  Seemingly — but  deliberately, 
let  me  confess.  For  we  have  too  generally 
shifted  the  vegetable  garden  into  the  discard, 
if  it  has  been  considered  at  all.  It  is  despised, 
in  short,  instead  of  being  honored;  and  I  aim  to 
see  it  restored  to  its  proper  elevation  in  the 
general  garden  concept.  For  if  this  is  not  done 
by  those  whose  opportunities  have  developed  in 
them  discrimination  and  taste,  and  recognition 
of  values  as  well  as  the  sense  of  responsibility, 
it  will  fall  more  and  more  under  the  ban  in  the 
minds  of  that  great  mass  who  advance  only  by 
imitation — and  who  imitate  the  least  admirable, 
more  often  than  not.  So  to  the  end  that  it 
may  be  thus  elevated,  I  have  gone  afield  to  point 
out  its  ancient  lineage  and  its  true  aristocracy. 
It  occupies  indeed  the  place  of  touchstone  in 
modern  gardening,  by  which  sincerity  shall  be 
revealed  as  well  as  gauged.  Let  this  never  be 
forgotten. 

Let  us  moreover  never  confuse  this  obligation 
to  produce — and  to  apportion  land  so  that  the 
productive  garden  is  a'ccorded  a  worthy  place — 
with  the  cost,  in  money  terms,  of  the  product. 
We  have  learned — or  we  have  failed! — that  it 
is  not  the  money  that  food  costs,  but  the  food 
that  counts  in  the  last  analysis.  To  be  able 
to  show  actual  food  retr.riis  is  therefore  of  far 


THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN  299 

greater  importance  than  to  show  advantages  in 
cost  reduction,  since  production  is  the  real  basis 
of  economic  advance  in  any  field  of  endeavor, 
and  never  the  cheapness  of  the  product. 

It  is  understood,  therefore,  that  I  do  not  urge 
the  vegetable  garden  as  a  feature  of  any  place 
for  the  (problematical)  results  in  saving  money 
on  vegetables;  but  that  my  urgence  is  based  on 
that  stewardship  which  I  mentioned  in  the  be- 
ginning. The  determination  to  give  a  good  ac- 
counting involves  the  neglect  of  no  part — and 
least  of  all  the  neglect  of  so  vital  a  part  as  the 
vegetable,  or  in  the  older  terminology,  the 
kitchen  garden.  Remembering  that  for  long  it 
entertained  all  that  there  were  of  flowers,  and 
these  only  because  they  were  used  in  flavoring 
or  for  distillation,  we  may  easily  restore  its  an- 
cient prestige  by  restoring  these — if  it  seems 
necessary  to  do  this.  But  introduced  in  the 
right  way  and  in  the  right  relation  in  the  gen- 
eral design,  I  contend  that  the  modern  kitchen 
garden  needs  nothing  more  than  an  understand- 
ing of  its  place  and  purpose  and  of  its  harmony 
with  all  the  rest,  to  restore  it  to  its  own. 

It  must  be  approached  practically  however; 
and  as  the  most  impractical  method  of  handling 
it  is  to  overdo  it,  it  follows  that  the  most  prac- 
tical approach  is  the  one  that  will  insure  doing 


300  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

just  enough — if  such  a  thing  is  possible.  Tests 
have  resulted  in  establishing  that  it  is.  It  is  in- 
deed quite  as  possible  to  estimate  how  much 
of  each  thing  will  be  wanted  during  an  entire 
year  as  it  is  to  figure  out  an  allotment  of  fuel; 
and  further,  to  go  back  from  this,  and  on  the 
basis  of  estimated  yield  ascertain  the  number 
of  hills  or  rows  or  plants  of  a  given  kind  neces- 
sary to  produce,  within  a  few  quarts  or  pounds, 
the  required  amount.  Let  us  not  start  with 
generalities,  therefore,  but  rather  by  determin- 
ing first  how  much  is  wanted  of  each  thing,  and 
how  much  must  be  planted  to  yield  this  amount. 
Then  keep  the  kitchen  garden  within  these  limits. 
As  a  starting  point  we  may  take  the  three 
hundred  and  sixty-five  days  of  the  year  which 
are  to  be  supplied  with  materials  for  three  meals 
each,  per  person.  I  will  suggest  eighteen  stand- 
ard vegetables  to  draw  on,  exclusive  of  salads, 
onions,  and  potatoes.  These  are  beans,  beets 
cabbage,  carrots,  celeriac,  corn,  cucumbers,  egg- 
plant, kohlrabi,  lima  beans,  okra,  parsnips,  peas, 
salsify,  summer  squash,  spinach,  tomatoes,  and 
turnips.  If  allowance  of  one  vegetable  at  din- 
ner in  addition  to  potatoes  is  made,  it  will 
mean  a  little  more  than  twenty  servings  of 
each  one  of  these  during  the  year — or  of  course 
forty  servings  if  two  meals  are  being  allowed  for. 


THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN  301 

This  brings  the  estimate  to  the  point  where 
each  household  must  answer  for  itself  the  ques- 
tion of  a  "portion."  It  varies  of  course  with 
different  households  and  individuals;  yet  it  is 
no  great  problem  in  mathematics  to  arrive  at 
it,  for  any.  If  three  bunches  of  beets,  for  ex- 
ample, or  twelve  ears  of  corn,  are  provided  for 
a  menage  of  six  persons,  it  means  that  two 
beets  or  two  ears  of  corn  are  a  single  portion; 
wherefore  the  twenty  portions  of  the  year  will 
be  forty  beets  and  forty  ears  of  corn.  Going 
thus  through  the  entire  list  of  vegetables  that 
are  to  be  planted,  it  is  easy  to  arrive  at  ap- 
proximately the  proper  total  of  every  one;  and 
from  this  the  necessary  amount  for  any  house- 
hold is  discoverable  by  a  very  simple  sum  in 
multiplication. 

A  tabulated  list  of  the  vegetables  suggested 
is  given,  to  aid  in  arriving  at  an  estimate  of  the 
amounts  to  be  planted — which  of  course  in  its 
turn  determines  the  space  to  be  devoted  to  the 
entire  project.  It  is  not  based  on  a  single  serv- 
ing of  each  vegetable  on  twenty  days  of  the 
year,  but  upon  the  doubling  of  this — that  is, 
upon  serving  each  one  forty  times.  And  of 
course  it  is  to  be  understood  that  the  perishable 
vegetables  which  cannot  be  canned  are  to  be 
used  during  their  season,   while  those  which 


302 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


may  be  preserved  are  put  away  against  the  sea- 
son when  nothing  is  available  from  the  garden. 
As  to  the  list  itself,  if  put  to  practical  usage, 
favorites  may  be  increased  in  quantity,  while 
those  that  do  not  recommend  themselves  are 
correspondingly  decreased. 

QUANTITY  OF  VEGETABLES  TO  PLANT  PER  PERSON 

On  the  basis  of  eighteen  kinds,  each  of  which  shall  be  served  forty 
times  during  the  year.  At  least  one  half  of  all  produced,  with  the 
exception  of  the  root  crops,  is  to  be  canned  or  dried  for  winter. 
Production  is  to  be  kept  up  by  close  picking,  which  induces  further 
bearing.  All  vegetables  (except  parsnips  and  salsify,  which  re- 
main in  the  ground  to  be  frozen  in  order  to  bring  them  to  their 
full  flavor)  should  always  be  picked  before  fully  mature,  to  be  at 
their  best.     The  length  of  rows  given  is  of  course  approximate. 


Amount 

Space  to 

Distance 

Vegetable 

Needed 

Plant 

Apart  in  Rows 

Beets 

80  plants 

25      feet 

4  inches 

Carrots 

80      " 

25 

4      " 

Turnips 

40      " 

12^    " 

4      " 

Parsnips 

60      " 

20        " 

4      " 

Salsify 

80      " 

20 

3      " 

Beans  (pole) 

20  quarts 

2      hUls 

3  feet 

Cabbage 

5  plants 

8      feet 

18  inches 

Corn 

80  ears 

25 

10      " 

Peas 

4  pecks 

60 

6      " 

Kohlrabi 

80  plants 

25 

4      " 

Tomato 

90  fruits 

3  plants 

3  feet 

Eggplant 

10     " 

2      " 

3    " 

Squash 

10     " 

1  vine 

hills  4  feet 

New  Zealand  Spinach 

5  pecks 

20  feet 

18  inches 

Okra 

10  quarts 

20    " 

2  feet 

Lima  beans 

10      " 

4  hills 

poles  3  feet 

Cucumbers 

90  fruits 

3  hills 

hills  4  feet 

Celeriac 

80  plants 

25  feet 

4  inches 

THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN  303 

It  is  a  point  of  great  importance  to  select 
varieties  of  each  kind  that  will  give  the  greatest 
yield  consistent  with  highest  quality,  in  small 
space.  I  speak  especially  and  emphatically  of 
this  because  the  most  prolific  varieties  are 
usually  of  the  market  gardeners'  "quality" — 
which  means  that  actual  quality  has  been  sac- 
rificed to  four  things  that  market  gardeners 
must  have — or  believe  they  must  have — above 
all  else,  namely:  earliness,  shipping  substance, 
tremendous  yield,  and  fine  appearance.  If  fine 
flavor  accompanies  these,  it  is  so  much  ^ain;  if 
it  does  not,  it  matters  not  to  the  commercial 
grower !  In  choosing  seeds  therefore  avoid  those 
kinds  of  which  it  is  said  they  are  favorites  with 
truckers.  Seek  quality  first  and  after  this 
abundance — and  forget  the  rest. 

Without  going  over  the  devious  ways  by 
which  the  conclusion  has  been  arrived  at,  I 
will  say  that  six  hundred  square  feet  of  ground 
will  produce,  under  intensive  cultivation,  all 
the  vegetables,  including  potatoes,  that  one 
adult  will  require  for  one  year.  As  the  latter 
vegetable  occupied  one  third  of  this  space — in 
the  tests — it  follows  that  four  hundred  square 
feet  will  suffice  if  potatoes  are  not  to  be  grown; 
which  reduces  itself  to  a  plot  of  ground  twenty 
by  twenty  feet  in  size.    Adding  to  this  a  fair 


304  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

percentage  for  wastage,  we  may  say  that 
twenty-five  by  twenty-five  feet  is  a  generous 
unit  per  person,  as  the  basis  for  estimating 
the  amount  of  land  it  will  be  necessary  to  cul- 
tivate and  give  over  to  vegetables  in  maintain- 
ing a  kitchen  garden  consistent  with  the  de- 
mands of  any  given  household.  If  potatoes  are 
to  be  included  in  the  list  of  vegetables  grown, 
it  is  of  course  proper  to  grow  them  all  together 
(in  rows  running  the  longest  way  of  their  sec- 
tion for  convenience  in  tillage)  on  a  separate 
allotment  of  two  hundred  square  feet  or  a  plot 
ten  by  twenty  feet  in  size,  for  each  individual. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  ground  for  the 
kitchen  garden  the  advantage  of  using  only  the 
smallest  area  consistent  with  the  needs  of  a 
household  begins  to  be  apparent.  For  both 
labor  and  fertilizers  are  concentrated,  and  the 
ground  benefits  accordingly — as  well  as  the  gar- 
dener. It  is  from  every  side  therefore  the  part 
of  wisdom  to  reduce  the  problem  to  its  lowest 
common  denominator;  and  to  locate  the  space 
which  is  to  be  devoted  to  this  extremely  inter- 
esting and  worth-while  project  where  every  ac- 
tivity connected  with  it  will  be  best  and  most 
conveniently  served.  Wherefore  it  appears  that, 
in  the  beginning,  one  must  consider  every  end; 
and,  as  I  have  earlier  and  repeatedly  pointed 


THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN  305 

out,  must  design  all  together  and  with  due  re- 
gard for  every  part. 

Of  actual  vegetable  culture  it  is  not,  perhaps, 
my  part  to  say  a  great  deal  here,  yet  of  the  ap- 
proach to  this  phase  of  garden  making  I  may 
appropriately  speak,  since  it  is  a  part  of  general 
garden  operations.  Briefly,  the  steps  to  be 
taken  are  five  in  number:  the  measuring  off 
of  the  plot  and  staking  out,  with  allotment  for 
paths  and  for  any  special  features  that  may  be 
intended;  the  applying  to  the  ground  thus  set 
apart  of  fertilizer,  preferably  ih  the  shape  of 
well  decomposed  stable  manure;  the  plowing 
or  spading  up,  during  which  this  is  turned 
under;  the  application  to  the  upturned  and 
broken  ground  of  a  dressing  of  lime;  and  finally 
the  harrowing  or  raking  of  all  this  surface  until 
it  is  broken  and  fine  and  mellow  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  seed. 

Of  the  first — the  staking  out  of  the  ground — 
let  it  be  remembered  that  primarily  it  is  to 
grow  vegetables,  and  to  grow  them  of  the  finest 
quality  and  to  the  highest  point  of  develop- 
ment, with  the  least  expenditure  of  effort.  It 
must  be  brought  to  the  point  of  highest  effi- 
ciency, in  other  words — which  implies  that  the 
gardener  who  tends  it  shall  be  able  to  manipu- 
late his  tools  with  perfect  freedom  and  shall  not 


306  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

have  his  efforts  impeded  by  any  outside  con- 
siderations. This  demands  the  elimination  of 
what  some  so  enthusiastically  recommend  as 
an  ornament  to  the  vegetable  garden;  namely, 
the  flower  border.  For  a  border  of  flowers 
crossing  the  ends  of  the  vegetable  rows  means 
that,  in  passing  from  row  to  row  with  his  wheel 
hoe,  the  gardener  must  always  be  hindered  by 
the  necessity  of  avoiding  them.  Even  though 
he  does  not  work  with  a  wheel  hoe — but  how 
shall  that  be! — he  still  must  watch  his  step  as 
he  approaches  the  end  of  each  vegetable  row,  if 
the  flower  border  is  allowed. 

Unquestionably  the  best  vegetable-garden 
layout  does  not  admit  a  border  of  any  kind, 
unless  this  is  wholly  outside  of  the  vegetable 
space,  as  in  the  case  of  its  being  on  the  outer 
side  of  a  walk  which  extends  around  the  gar- 
den. Such  a  walk  is  excellent;  for  crossing  the 
ends  of  the  rows  it  affords  just  the  turning  space 
which  the  gardener  needs,  whatever  implement 
he  is  handling.  Whatever  the  garden  space, 
therefore,  secure  if  possible  this  feature  of  a 
walk  at  the  ends  of  the  rows.  If  these  are  more 
than  fifty  feet  in  length  it  is  well  also  to  break 
them  by  a  walk  midway;  for  of  some  things  con- 
siderably less  than  fifty  feet  of  row  will  serve 
ordinarily.    Avoid  unusual  forms  in  the  layout 


THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN  307 

of  the  space,  and  always  plant  in  rows  rather 
than  in  beds.  There  ought  of  course  to  be  a 
seed-bed  space;  and  also  space  for  hotbeds  and 
coldframes,  if  full  provision  is  to  be  made  for 
the  best  work.  But  these  are  all  assembled 
along  one  end  or  side,  with  the  permanent  veg- 
etables for  their  neighbors — such  things  as  as- 
paragus and  rhubarb — and  so  do  not  break  up 
the  main  portion  of  the  garden.  This  avoids 
interference  with  the  permanent  things  when 
plowing  is  done,  and  preserves  the  units  of  the 
garden  in  the  proper  and  efficient  manner. 

Whatever  may  be  said,  or  may  have  been 
said  at  any  time  by  anybody,  of  other  fertil- 
izers, nothing  will  ever  supersede  stable  manure. 
Green  manures  should  be  used  also,  in  the  form 
of  cow-peas,  vetch,  or  rye,  sown  broadcast  when 
the  garden  is  harvested,  to  be  plowed  under 
with  the  coming  of  spring  again;  but  the  short- 
season  of  growth  which  intensive  gardening  al- 
lows these  is  not  sufficient  to  provide,  through 
them,  all  that  the  ground  needs.  Of  commer- 
cial fertilizers  always  remember  that,  though 
they  do  what  is  claimed  of  them  in  many  in- 
stances, they  do  it  at  tremendous  expense  to  the 
land — and  their  use  must  be  constantly  carried 
on,  once  it  is  adopted.  Whereas  in  countries 
as  densely  populated  as  China,  farming  and  gar- 


308  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

dening  of  the  most  intensive  character  have  been 
practiced  for  thousands  of  years  without  a  par- 
ticle of  these  synthetic  plant  foods. 

Ground  bone,  dried  blood,  and  such  products 
are  not  in  this  class  of  course.  It  is  to  those 
combinations  of  chemicals  by  which  many — 
including  many  who  should  know  better — set 
such  store,  that  I  refer.  If  land  is  well  manured 
annually,  lightly  limed  annually,  and  worked 
deeply  before  planting,  and  constantly  on  top 
after  vegetation  makes  its  appearance,  it  will 
produce  without  the  stimulation  which  chemi- 
cals give  it;  and  it  will  not  become  exhausted, 
no  matter  how  many  crops  are  taken  from  it, 
nor  how  abundant  these  may  be. 

The  vegetable  garden  space  ought  never  to 
receive  less  than  four  inches  depth  of  manure 
each  spring — and  more  in  the  beginning  if  it  is 
poor  land.  This  should  be  applied  evenly  as 
early  as  possible  (not  however  in  the  autumn 
before!)  and  of  course  plowed  under,  or  turned 
under  by  spading  if  it  is  a  small  garden  plot, 
as  soon  as  the  ground  is  in  condition  to  do  this 
work.  The  best  way  of  deciding  as  to  when  this 
time  has  arrived  is  to  walk  onto  the  ground  and 
see  whether  it  packs  or  not.  As  long  as  it  is 
"mud"  or  even  wet  enough  to  be  pressed  down 
and  printed  by  the  foot,  it  is  too  wet  to  be 


THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN  309 

touched — and  too  wet  to  be  walked  about  on, 
as  a  matter  of  fact.  For  nothing  will  work  more 
lasting  damage  for  the  season  than  such  packing 
of  the  garden  soil  into  lumps  in  the  spring. 

Clods  formed  in  this  way  simply  cannot 
be  eradicated  all  summer  long,  since  they  will 
take  on  almost  the  hard  baked  character  of 
bricks.  Actually  the  ground  is  not  ready  for 
working  until  a  handful  of  it,  squeezed  ener- 
getically, crumbles  apart  when  the  hand  is 
opened.  Never  let  the  forehandedness  of  an- 
other drive  this  from  mind — for  the  garden  that 
is  not  worked  until  it  is  fully  ready,  nor  planted 
until  the  ground  is  warm  and  mellow,  will  grow 
enough  faster  to  catch  up  with,  and  often  to 
pass,  the  garden  that  is  worked  a  little  in  ad- 
vance of  the  safe  season. 

Plowing  or  spading,  whichever  method  is 
used  to  break  the  ground  up  in  the  spring, 
should  be  deep — eight  inches  at  least,  twelve  if 
possible.  The  latter  is  I  know,  even  in  agricul- 
tural operations,  a  greater  depth  than  is  usually 
considered  possible;  but  if  ground  is  worked 
over  by  hand,  it  is  quite  possible — and  though 
it  may  be  difficult,  it  is  worth  the  effort,  in  al- 
ternate years  at  any  rate.  For  a  deep  seedbed 
means  plenty  of  deep  moisture  for  the  growing 
plants;  and  moisture  deep  down  is  food,  since 


310  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

only  in  liquid  form  is  it  possible  for  them  to  take 
nourishment  at  all.  If  ever  so  great  efforts  are 
made  in  the  way  of  providing  them  nourishment 
therefore,  and  this  one  thing  of  keeping  the 
moisture  in  the  ground  to  hold  it  in  solution  is 
neglected,  they  must  starve. 

After  the  plowing  comes  the  lime — and  annu- 
ally, enough  of  it  to  cover  the  ground  lightly. 
Never  be  beguiled  into  a  generous  application 
one  year  in  the  hope  of  saving  work  the  next; 
but  put  it  on  every  year,  in  the  proportion  of 
about  five  pounds  to  one  hundred  square  feet. 
Spread  it  as  evenly  as  possible;  and  then  pro- 
ceed to  the  harrowing  or  raking  which  shall  in- 
corporate it  with  the  soil  at  the  surface,  and  at 
the  same  time  shall  break  up  all  lumps  and 
fine  this  upper  layer  until  it  is  ready  for  the 
seed,  and  for  the  cordial  encouragement  of  the 
tiny  rootlets  that  must  needs  penetrate  it  in  all 
directions  when  the  seeds  sprout. 

Finally,  let  me  urge  orderliness  in  the  planting 
of  the  seed.  It  has  been  said  to  me  by  a  few 
successful  gardeners — successful  in  that  they 
are  able  to  raise  a  great  many  things  by  spread- 
ing them  over  a  great  deal  more  land  than  is 
necessary — that  straight  rows  and  care  in  the 
matter  of  sowing  seed  are  all  nonsense.  But 
such  measure  of  success  as  comes  with  disorder 


THE  VEGETABLE  GARDEN  311 

comes  because  of  the  abundance  of  nature  and 
never  through  the  intelHgence  of  the  gardener. 
And  this  is  not  the  kind  of  gardening  that  we 
of  to-day  can  be  satisfied  with.  The  kitchen 
garden  deserves  as  much  care  to  make  it  beau- 
tiful through  perfect  order,  and  through  exact 
lines  which  express  such  order,  as  any  other 
kind  of  garden  or  section  of  the  garden.  Dis- 
regard of  these  features  is  largely  responsible 
for  its  disrepute,  as  well  as  for  the  slovenly  care 
that  it  so  often  receives.  Wherefore,  observa- 
tion of  them  will  scatter  both  the  indifference 
that  results  in  neglect,  and  the  disdain  that 
scorns  the  finer  attributes  of  appearance;  and 
thus  we  shall  not  only  bring  the  vegetable  gar- 
den into  its  proper  place  of  honor,  but  we  shall 
add  to  all  the  rest  that  a  garden  means  a  happy 
consciousness  of  obligations  discharged  even  as 
they  are  continually  reincurred. 


Library 
N,   C.   State   College 


sn         COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


"Oh,  Adam  was  a  gardener,  and  God  who  made  him  sees 
That  half  a  proper  gardener's  work  is  done  upon  his 

knees, 
So  when  j^our  work  is  finished,  you  can  wash  your  hands 

and  pray 
For  the  Glory  of  the  Garden  that  it  may  not  pass  away! 
And  the  Glory  of  the  Garden  it  shall  never  pass  away!'* 
— The  Glory  oj  the  Garden — Kipling. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Part  I 

CHAPTER 

I.  The  Garden's  Place  in  Civilization  i 
History  of  Gardening  in  Eng- 
land       Amherst 

An  Encyclopaedia  of  Gardening   Loudon 
Old-fashioned  Gardening     .     .    Tabor 
Gardens  Ancient  and  Modern  .    Dent 

II.  Position  and  Plan  of  the  House 

Village  Improvement       .     .     .    Farwell 

The   Home   Grounds,    Bulletin 

361 Cornell  University 

The  House  Livable  Series       .     .    Putnam,  Publisher 

Economic  Study  of  Farm  Lay- 
out     Cornell  Universty 

Town  Planning:  Past,  Present, 

and  Possible        Triggs 

III.-VIII.  (inclusive) 

Landscape  Gardening  Studies  Parsons 

Landscape  Gardening      .     .     .  Root  &  Kelley 
Home     Landscape     Gardening 

Books The  Garden  Press 

The  Ideal  Garden       ....  Thomas 

How  to  Plan  the  Home  Grounds  Parsons 

Practical  Landscape  Gardening  Cridland 

IX.  Planting  and  Maintenance 

Manual  of  Gardening      .     .     .  Bailey 

Four  Seasons  in  the  Garden  .  Rexford 

Amateur  Gardencraft      .     .     .  Rexford 

The  Pruning  Manual       .     .     .  Bailey 


314  COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 

Part  II 

CHAPTER 

X.  Trees  and  Their  Purpose 

Manual  of  the  Trees  of  North 

America Sargent 

Care  of  Trees       Fernow 

The  Romance  of  Our  Trees      .    Wilson 
Field  Book  of  American  Trees 

and  Shrubs Matthews 

Key  to  Trees Collins  &  Preston 

Our  National  Forests  (forestry 

study)  BOERKER 

American  Forest  Trees  (lumber 
study) Gibson 

XI.-XII. 

Same  as  under  III.-VIII. 

XIII.-XIV. 

A  Woman's  Hardy  Garden  .     .  Ely 

Home  Floriculture      ....  Rexford 

The  American  Flower  Garden  .  Blanchan 

Let's  Make  a  Flower  Garden  .  Rion 
Color  Schemes  for  the  Flower 

Garden Jekyll 

Hints  on  the  Growing  of  Bulbs  Dreer 
Continuous  Bloom  in  America  .  Shelton 
Annual  Flowering  Plants,  Bul- 
letin 1171        Cornell  University 

My  Garden Wilder 

XV.  Roses  and  Their  Special  Culture 

Roses  (historical) Pemberton 

The  Practical  Book  of  Outdoor 

Rose  Growing Thomas 

American  Rose  Society  Annuals 

XVI.  Water  Features  and  Water  Flowers 

Water  Garden (Issued  by  Dreer) 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  315 

CHAPTER 

Water  Lilies  and  How  to  Grow 

Them Hus  &  Conard 

The  Book  of  Water  Gardening  .    Bisset 

XVII.  Rock  Gardens  and  Their  Plants 

Rock  Gardening  for  Amateurs  .   Thomas 

XVIII.  Wild  Gardens  and  Wild  Flowers 

The  Wild  Garden Robinson 

XIX.  Fruits  for  the  Small  Garden 

The  Principles  of  Fruit  Growing    Bailey 

Bush  Fruits Card 

The  Principles  and  Practice  of 

Pruning Kains 

XX.  The  Vegetable  Garden 

Vegetable  Gardening  ....  Green 

Home  Vegetable  Garden      .     .  Rockwell 

The  Home  Garden      ....  Rexford 

The  Book  of  the  Home  Garden  Fullerton 
The    Principles    of    Vegetable 

Gardening Bailey 

Also  for  General  Reference: 

Diseases  of  Truck  Crops  and 

Their  Control Taubenhaus 

Manual  of  Fruit  Insects      .     .    Slingerland  & 

Crosby 

Injurious  Insects Kane 

Spraying  of  Plants      ....    Lodeman 

Garden  Guide De  la  Mare 

The    Garden    Primer  (elemen- 
tary work) Tabor 

Garden  Steps  (elementary  for 

children) Cobb 

The  Complete  Garden  (material 

for  all  sections) Taylor 

Johnson's   Gardeners'    Diction- 
ary        Johnson 


INDEX 


Abelia,  75,  175 
Acer,  152 
Aconitum,  197 
Actsea,  197,  '266,  280 
Actinidia,  68,  75 
Adder's  tongue,  279 
Adonis,  197 
Ageratum,  199 
Ajuga,  198,  199,  265 
Akebia  (akebi),  208 
Alder,  180 

Alkanet  (Italian),  199 
Allegheny  plum,  281 
Alpines,  259 
Althea,  199 
Alyssum,  199,  266 
Amelanchier,  152,  281 
Ampelopsis,  202,  206 
Anchusa,  199 
Andromeda,  175,  176,  179 
Anemone,  197, 198,  266,  279 
Annuals,  183 
Antirrhinum,  199 
Aphids  (plant  lice),  136 
Appalachian  tea,  281 
Apple,  147,  283,  285 
Apricot,  286,  287 
Aquilegia,  197,  266 
Arabis,  266 
Arbor,  89,  93,  209 


Arborvitffi,  67,  75, 161, 162, 
163 

Arbutus,  279 

Arbutus  (bush),  175 

Arch,  103,  111 

Arenaria,  266 

Arisaema,  279 

Armeria,  266 

Aronia,  180 

Asarum,  266,  280 

Asclepias,  266,  280,  281 

Ash,  273 

Ash  (mountain),  153 

Aster,  197,  198,  280 

Astilbe,  198 

Azalea,  175,  179,  277,  281 

Baneberry,   184,    197,  266, 

280 
Barberry,  75,  177,  180 
Barrenwort,  266 
Bayberry,  281 
Beard  tongue,  198 
Bedstraw,  280 
Bee  (honey),  138 
Beech,  69,  127,  148,  273 
Bellflower,  197,  198,  266 
Bellwort,  279 
Benzoin,  180 
Berberis,  75,  177,  180 


318 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


Biennials,  183 
Birch,  127,  273 
Bird  bath,  94,  95,  96,  97 
Bird's  eye,  198 
Bird  house,  95 
Bishop's  cap,  266 
Bittersweet,  274 
Blanket  flower,  198 
Bloodroot,  279 
Bluebells,  197,  199 
Blue  spruce,  154 
Bog,  248,  249 
Boltonia,  189,  197 
Bordeaux  mixture,  136 
Border,  187 
Boston  ivy,  202,  208 
Boxwood,  75,  178 
Brassica,  296 
Brickwork,  78,  112 
Buckthorn,  180 
Buddleia,  179 
Bugbane,  280 
Bugle,  198,  199,  265 
Bunchberry,  279 
Burning  bush,  180 
Bush  arbutus,  175 
Bush  clematis,  199 
Bush  fruits,  289 
Buttercup,  189 
Butterfly  shrub,  179 
Butterfly  weed,  266,  280 
Button  snakeroot,  280 

Cabbage,  296 
Cabomba,  245 
Calliopsis,  199 
Calluna,  175,  179 


Campanula,  197,  198,  266 
Candytuft,  266 
Cardamine,  266 
Cardinal  flower,  1 97, 198,280 
Carnation,  199 
Casino,  89,  93 
Catchfly,  199 
Caulophyllum,  279 
Ceanothus,  179 
Cedar  (red),  159,  161 
Cedar  (white),  159 
Cement,  77,  112 
Centaurea,  199 
Cerastium,  265 
Cherry,  285,  292 
Cherry  (wild),  273 
Chimaphila,  279 
Chionanthus,  152 
Chokeberry,  180 
Christmas  berry,  180 
Chrysanthemum,  197,  198, 

199 
Cimicifuga,  197,  280 
Claytonia,  198,  280 
Clematis  (bush),  199,  266 
Clematis   (vine),  205,  208, 

209,  274 
Clethra,  180 
Clintonia,  279 
Clover,  189 
Coal  ash,  139 
Coleus,  184 

Color,  189,  190,  191,  192 
Coltsfoot,  280 
Columbine,  184,  197,  266 
Column,  89,  102 
Compass  plant,  280 


INDEX 


319 


Conifers,  156,  162,  173 
Coreopsis  (annual),  199 
Coreopsis  (perennial),  198 
Cornel,  177,  180 
Cornelian  cherry,  180 
Cornus,  153,  180,  279,  281 
Corylus,  281 

Cotoneaster,  175,  176,  179 
Cow-peas,  307 
Cowslip  (Virginian),  280 
Crataegus,  152,  179 
Crimson-glory  vine,  209 
Crocus,  184 
Cuckoo  flower,  266 
Currant,  116,  290 
Cypress,  162 

Daffodil,  184,  197 

Daisy,  189 

Daphne,  175 

Day  lily,  184,  197,  198 

Delphinium  (annual),  200 

Delphinium    (perennial), 

197,  198,  199 
Dentaria,  280 
Deutzia,  180 
Dianthus,  266 
Dicentra,  280 
Dictamnus,  138 
Diervilla,  179 
Digitalis,  198 
Dodocatheon,  280 
Dog  fennel,  280 
Dogwood  (cornel),  153,  161 
Dryas,  266 

Dutchman's  breeches,  280 
Dwarf  fruit,  115,  283.  284 


Eel  grass,  245 
Elder,  179 
Eleagnus,  75 
Elm,  148,  273 
Entrance,  85,  107 
Epigaea,  279 
Epimedium,  266 
Erythronium,  279 
Eupatorium  281 
Evergreens,  127,  128 
Evonymus,    .    175,        179, 

180 
Exotics,  151 
Exposure,  18 

False  mitrewort,  266 
False  Solomon's  seal,  197, 

279 
Faun, 115 

Fence,  69,  70,  71,  72 
Fertilizer,  138,  307,  308 
Fire  thorn,  179 
Flag-stone  garden,  261 
Floss  flower,  199 
Flower  beds,  185 
Foam  flower,  279 
Forsythia,  179 
Fountain,  89 
Foxglove,  198 
Fringe  tree,  152 
Fruit  lists,   291,  292,  293, 

294 
Fungicide,  135 
Funkia,  197 

Galax,  280 
Galium,  280 


320 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


Gaillardia,  198 
Garland  flower,  175 
Gas  plant,  198 
Gateway,  87,  112 
Gazebo,  89,  113 
Gentian,  280 
Gi'ranium,  184 
Giant  bellflower,  189 
Ginkgo,  121 
Globe  flower,  197 
Goldenrod,  280,  281 
Golden  seal,  279 
Goldfish,  246 
Gooseberry,  116,  290 
Grape,  116,  209,  290 
Grape  (wild),  274 
Grass,  141 
Grasswort,  265 
Gravel,  78 
Great  laurel,  281 
Great  lobelia,  281 
Gronnd-hele,  266 
Ground  lilv,  279 


High-bush  cranberry,  177 
Holly,  75,  175 
Hollyhock,  184,  185,  199 
Honeysuckle  (bush),  28,  75, 

117 
Honeysuckle     (vine),     202, 

204,  207,  208,  209 
Hop- tree,  152 
House-leek,  266 
Huckleberry,  277 
Hydrangea,  180 
Hydrastis,  279 
Hypericum,  180 

Iberis,  266 

Ilex,  175,  176,  179,  180 

Indian  pink,  197 

Inkberry,  174 

Insecticide,  136 

Insects,  135,  136,  228 

Iris,    184,    197,    198,    199, 

280 
Ivy  (English),  203 


Hamamelis,  281 
Harebell,  266 
Hazelnut,  281 
Heath  family,  277 
Heather,  175,  179 
Hedera,  203 
Hedge  material,  75 
Hemerocallis,  197,  198 
Hemlock,  87 
Hepatica,  279 
Herm,  95,  102 
Hesperis,  199 
Hickory,  148,  273 


Jack-in-the-pulpit,  279 
Joe  Pye  v/eed,  281 
Juniper    (Juniperus),    159, 
161,  163 

Kalmia,  175,  179,  281 
Kerosene  emulsion,  135 
ICitchen  garden,  304,  311 
Kudzu  vine,  202,  208 

Larkspur  (annual),  200 
Larkspur   (perennial),    1?S., 
199 


INDEX 


3^i> 


Laurel,  175,  176,  179,  277, 

281 
Lawns,  140 
Leucothoe,  179 
Liatris,  280 
Ligustrum,  75 
Lilac,  164,  179 
Lily     (lUium),     197,     280, 

281 
Lily-of- valley    shrub,    175, 

179 
Lime,  139,  141,  310 
Lime-sulphur  spray,  135 
Live-forever,  266 
Liverleaf,  279 

Lobelia,  197,  198,  280,  281 
Lonicera,  202,  207 
Lotus,  245 
Lupine  (lupinus),  184,  197, 

198,  280 
Lychnis,  199 

Madwort,  199, 266 
Mahonia,  175,  176,  179 
Maidenhair   tree    (ginkgo), 

121 
Maiden  pink,  266 
Manure  (stable),  139,  140 
Manure  (green),  307 
Maple,  152,  273 
Marigold,  200 
Marilandica,  197 
Mass  planting,  167 
Matthiola,  200 
May  apple,  279 
Meadow  sweet,  197 
Mertensia,  197,  199,  280 


Milkweed,  281 
Milkwort,  279 
Mitchella,  279 
Mitella,  266,  279 
Mitrewort,  279 
Mock  orange,  179 
Monarda,  281 
Monkshood,  197 
Mosquito,  98,  246 
Moss  pink,  266 
Mountain  ash,  152 
Mullein  pink,  199 
Myrica,  281 

Nectarine,  286,  287 
Nelumbium,  244 
New  Jersey  tea,  17P 
Nymphaea,  245 

Oak,  148,  161,  273 
Oregon  grape,  175,  179 
Ornamental  trees,  148,  150, 

273 
Oswego  tea,  281 

Pappoose  root,  279 
Partridge  berry,  279 
Pasque  flower,  266 
Peach,  285,  286 
Penstemon,  198 
Peony  (pseonia),  184,  189, 

197,  198 
Perennials,  183 
Pergola,  92,  93,  209 
Pests,  135,  136,  228 
Philadelphus,  179 
Phlox  (annual),  199 


322 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


Phlox  (perennial),  184,  197, 

198,  199,  266 
Photinia,  180 
Pieris,  179 
Pink-root,  280 
Pipsissewa,  279 
Plan  (garden),  30,  34,  38, 

42,  106,  108,  114 
Plan  (house),  20,  30,  34,  38, 

108,  114 
Plantain  lily,  197 
Planting,  118,  188,  196 
Plant  lice,  136 
Platycodon,  199 
Plum,  273 
Podophyllum,  279 
Polygala,  279,  280 
Polygonatum,  280 
Pool,  235,  238 
Poplar,  121 
Poppy,  198 
Potato,  297 
Privet,  63,  64,  75,  87,  115, 

180 
Pruning,   65,   66,   67,   121, 

122,  132,  229 
Prunus,  281 
Ptelia,  152 
Pueraria,  202 

Quince,  288 

Red  osier,  281 
Retinospora,  162,  163 
Rhamnus,  180 
Rhododendron,    127,    173, 
174,  177,  277,  281 


Rock  cress,  266 
Rockery,  261,  262,  263 
Rock  garden  material,  265, 

266 
Root  system,  120 
Roots,  118 

Rose  classification,  214 
Rose  (climbing),  116,  117, 

207 
Rose  hip,  178 
Rose  (hybrids),  177 
Rose  lists,  230,  231 
Rose  (wild),  177 
Roses : 

China  or  Bengal,  216,  226 

Hybrid  Perpetual,  215 

Hybrid  Tea,  216 

Multiflora,  226 

Native  wild,  227,  228 

Noisette,  226 

Rugosa,  217 

Soil  for,  220 

Tea,  216 

Wichuraiana,  225 
Rue,  279 
Rye,  307 

Salvia,  184 

Sambucus,  179 

Sanguinaria,  279 

San  Jose  scale,  135 

Sassafras,  273 

Saxafrage  (saxafraga),  197, 

266,  280 
Scale  insects,  136 
Screen  planting,  165 
Sculpture,  90 


INDEX 


Seat  (garden),  93 

Sedum,  199,  266 

Seed,  141 

Sempervivum,  266 

Service  berry,  152 

Shadbush,  152,  281 

Shade,  148,  149,  150 

Sheep-berry,  281 

Shooting  star,  280 

Shortia,  280 

Shrubs,  153,  160,  165,  179, 
180 

Shrubs     (evergreen),     175, 
176,  177,  179 

Silene,  199 

Silphium,  280 

Smilacina,  197,  297 

Snakeroot,  197,  266,  280 

Snapdragon,  199 

Snowball,  164 

Snowberry,  180 

Soap  spray,  137 

Soil  (alkali),  277 

Soil  (sour),  139 

Solidago,  280,  281 

Solomon's  seal,  280 

Sorbus,  152 

Speedwell,  198,  199,  266 

Spice  bush,  180 

Spmdle  tree,  179 

Spirea  (spiraea),  179,  197 

Spraying,  229 

Spring  beauty,  198,  280 

Squirrel  corn,  280 

Star  wort,  184 

Statuary,  94,  99,  100,  101 

Statue,  89,  90,  91 


St.  John's- wort,  180 
Stocks,  200 

Stoke's  aster  (stokesia),  199 
Stone-crop,  199,  266 
Stone,  use  of,  in  garden,  275, 

276 
Streptopus,  280 
Subaquatic,  245 
Sundial,  94,  98,  110,  113 
Sweet  pepper-bush,  180 
Sweet  rocket,  199 
Sweet  sultan,  199 
Symphoricarpos,  180 
Symplocos,  180 
Syringa,  179 

Tagetes,  200 
Taxus,  75 
Tecoma,  209 
Thalictrum,  279 
Thorn,  152,  273 
Thrift,  266 
Thuya,  75,  159,  161 
Tiarella,  265,  299 
Tickseed,  198 
Toad  lily,  197 
Toothwort,  280 
Transplanting,  129 
Trellis,  204 
Trillium,  197,  279 
Trollius,  197 
Trumpet  creeper,  209 
Trycirtus,  197 
Tulip  tree,  273 
Tunica,  266 
Turquoise  berry,  180 
Twisted  stalk,  280 


324 


COME  INTO  THE  GARDEN 


Uvularia,  279 

Vallisneria,  245 
Vegetable  garden,  116 
Vegetable  list,  302 
Veronica,     197,    198,    199, 

266 
Vetch,  307 
Viburnum,  180,  281 
Vines  (annual),  210 
Violet,  280 
Virginia  creeper,  206 
Vitis,  209 

Wafer  ash,  152,  161 
Wake  robin,  197,  279 
Wall,  72,  73,  111 
Wall  fruits,  113,  116 
Wall  garden,  260 
Wall  pepper,  266 
Washington  grass,  245 


Water  garden  material,  250, 

251,  252 
Water  hyacinth,  242 
Watering,  126 
Water-lily,   240,   241,    246, 

247 
Water  poppy,  242 
Weigelia,  179 
White  flowers,  193 
Wild  oats,  279 
Windflower,  197,  198 
Winterberry,  179 
Wistaria,  202,  207,  208 
Witch-hazel,  281 
Withe  rod,  180 
Woodbine,  206,  274 
Woods  (plants  from),  277, 

278 
Worms,  136     , 

Yew,  75 


